Local Person - Rosemary Henderson

At 78, Rosemary Henderson has crammed an astonishing stack of experiences into her life - even if, at the time we spoke in March, she was somewhat stuck doing not a lot, thanks to Covid restrictions. 

Brought up in Gloucestershire, she has always been animal-mad, a keen rider and lover of dogs and cats. She started racing in point to points and national hunt races at the comparatively mature age of 31 and it was the racing world that brought her into contact with equine vet Bill Henderson, himself a jockey and 15 years her junior. 

She remembered feeling quite annoyed the practice had sent out ‘this newcomer’ to see her horses, but they hit it off, spending time riding and competing together. 

‘We ended up getting married in 1986 - I was 43, he was 27,’ said Rosemary. 

Bill’s intention to set up in practice on his own saw the couple move to Folly Gate the same year. The couple had five horses by this time and Rosemary was competing regularly, doing well in national hunt events and relishing the thrill of racing. 

Then Fiddler’s Pike came into her life - or Magnus, as she called him - who was given to the couple after Bill had spent much time treating his bad back. After a boozy meal with neighbours Noel and Helen Edmonds, Rosemary was persuaded to enter him into the Grand National. 

‘I’d never wanted to ride it but we’d done quite a lot of good races. Jimmy Frost, a local trainer, rang up and offered to ride him in it and I thought: “If that horse is going to run, I’m going to be the one to ride him”,’ said Rosemary, who was 51 at the time. 

‘I was walking the dogs two weeks before the race and thought: “What the hell am I doing?”!’ 

Rosemary said Magnus was a neurotic starter - if not ‘led up’ he’d whip around, ending up facing the wrong way when when the flag went up. However, once he got going, he was a very strong galloper and great jumper: ‘We made a good pair,’ she said. 

They certainly did that day in 1996, when Rosemary, tagged in the press as ‘the galloping granny’ (completely erroneously; she has no children), finished fifth out of 40 starters, remaining for many years the highest placed woman jockey in the world famous race. She later wrote a book, Road to the National, based on the experience. 

Life for Bill and Rosemary took a completely new turn when they accompanied his parents, his father having suffered a brain haemorrhage, to New Zealand in 1998. After a short period travelling they settled on the North Island, where most horse eventing takes place. Bill established a new client base, while also gaining a pilot’s licence. Flying to see clients gave the couple more scope to move further afield, eventually re-building a house on the beach at Golden Bay on the South Island. 

‘It’s a lovely area, a beautiful place to live,’ said Rosemary. Living by the ocean developed their love of sailing and sparked a desire to see more of the world - in 2008 they upped sticks and relocated to the north of Brisbane in Australia, an easier country from which to sail. 

‘We’d always had sailing boats but we wanted to live on a boat for a bit. We started looking at these amazing cruisers, very slow but with amazing range and very stable, big enough to get all our kit in,’ said Rosemary. With no horses of their own by this stage, or dogs, there was nothing stopping them - she and Bill bought the good ship Levity and spent three years on her, exploring the Caribbean and east coast of America, wintering in the West Indies. 

‘I loved the Caribbean - you can do a different island every day. When you think I didn’t leave Gloucestershire until I was 43, I’ve been very lucky!’ laughed Rosemary. 

They returned to Australia in 2010 but incredibly sadly, Rosemary lost Bill to a brain tumour in 2014, following a two year fight with cancer.  

‘He was only 57 - I always thought he’d be looking after me when I got old,’ said Rosemary. 

She now divides her time between Australia and her home in Lewdown, although thanks to Covid she’s been unable to return ‘down under’. Still as active as ever, she is planning a sponsored cycle ride in May on the Tarka Trail, to raise funds for research into dementia. 

‘It’s a horrible disease - I’d like to do something to help,’ she said.