Restive details

Restive joined us in September 2020, as a previous seven times winner.

Although working well on the gallops he had simply fallen out of love with racing and after half a dozen runs it was decided to retire him and find him a new career.

We had to look up ‘horseball’ when an enquiry came in from Ben Berry of the Derby Horseball Club who was keen to retrain the eight-year-old gelding to play the sport.

For the uninitiated, and that included us, horseball is an exciting horseback combination of rugby, basketball, hockey, soccer, and Harry Potter's magical game Quidditch. Each team has six members, including four active players on the field and two substitute players. Players may only hold the ball for 10 seconds before passing it to a team member. After at least three passes between three different players, the player with the ball may shoot at the hoop and score a goal. The team with the most goals scored at the end of the 20-minute game wins.

Restive was a complete natural, and astounded everyone by how quick he was to progress from racehorse to horseball and within months he was not just competing, but he was actually winning.

Away from sport Restive is much loved by the family who adore him, and he is a very special horse having had a successful career on the track and now on the horseball field.