Pat Smyth equestrian, has she written autobiography ?

Question

Is she still with us ??? any info pse

Answer 1

She wrote a famous autobiography entitled "Jump for Joy", which I remember seeing on library shelves as a child (but never read, not being horsey, alas!) She died aged 67 on 27 February 1996.
Here's some info gleaned from Wilkipedia:
Patricia Rosemary Smythe (22 November 1928 - February 27 1996), most commonly known as Pat Smythe was one of Britain's premier female showjumpers. She later married in 1960 after the Summer Olympics of the year to childhood friend Sam Koechlin and became Patricia Koechlin-Smythe. This meant a move to Switzerland (as he was Swiss) and it was there that many of her books were written. He died in 1986, and she moved back to the Cotswolds.

Her death came due to heart disease. She was 67. She was also the subject of a commerative plate and a Beswick model.

Contents [hide]
1 Early years
2 War years
3 Ponies/horses
4 Books
4.1 Biographies
4.2 Non fictional books
4.3 Fictional books



[edit]
Early years
Pat Smythe was the last of 3 children, the other 2 being Dicky and Ronald Smythe. Sadly Dicky died from pneumonia at the age of 4. Her parents were Eric Hamilton Smythe and Frances Monica Curtoys, who were born in the early 1900s. She lived in London, on the outskirts of Richmond Park. Pat nearly died when she was nearly 5 from diphtheria.

Although she recovered fully , it did mean that she had to learn to walk again. Hardship and suffering was to feature predominantly throughout her professional and personal life. Her father died when she was in her late teens, and her mother when she was 23.

[edit]
War years
World War II brought times of awkward separation for the family. As well as the usual wartime activity of evacuation and rationing, in early 1940 her father was sent to Biskra in Algeria in search of a respite from his arthritis. Her mother remained in London working for the Red Cross.

During her father's eventual return from North Africa via France, her mother set out to find him. She eventually found him in the town of Aix-les-Bains and together they managed to get out of France, under enemy fire, on the very last boat to leave Bordeaux just before the Germans occupied the city and the majority of the rest of France.

Pat herself was sent to the Cotswolds (Ferne) for her own safety, along with Pixie. Her brother had been relocated to Newquay in Devon, where his school had relocated. It was during that time, whilst getting into an entanglement with several horses, met the King in the middle of the road. Unaware of who he was, she said to the driver of the car he was travelling in to Shut up! Can't you see I'm trying to get these horses out of the road!

In early 1941, her parents and herself relocated to a house in the Cotswolds. Her parents still had to work hard, and things were never easy. The house had to double serve as a guest house, as well as a family home.

In 1949, she relocated again, with her mother (during the time her father had died) to Miserden in the Cotswolds.

[edit]
Ponies/horses
Her first ride was on a small pony known as Bubbles. Although it was her brother's pony, she learnt to ride on him. As with many children, she outgrew him eventually. After that her parents bought her a Dartmoor x Arab pony named Pixie. Pixie was later mated with a stallion and gave birth to a filly called Vicky.

Her mother used to be sent polo ponies by a friend of the family Johnny Traill, to break and be schooled for polo riding. Although they werent hers, when she was older, she also helped school and break them.

It wasn't until her relocation to the Cotswolds that her first taste of showjumping came with Finality. After varied success at gymkhanas and numerous injuries which Finality incurred, she was able to compete in her first International Show. Eventually she was asked to join the British team with the likes of Colonel Harry Llewellyn, Ruby Holland-Martin, Toby Robeson and Brian Butler in 1947. But this partnership was not to last, due to financial pressure and the fact she wasn't theirs (Finality had been lent to the family by Johnny Traill), she had to be sold.

Her next horse the grey mare Carmena came after the loss of Finality. Although Carmena was a talented successful horse, Pat Smythe admitted that she could never feel the same closeness she had with Finality.

Shortly came another mare, Leona. Leona served her well until the death of her mother meant that finances were pretty tight, and being the most valuable (at the time), she had to be sold.

In 1949, came her cheapest horse Prince Hal. Bought as a cheap ex-racehorse, he was initially named Fourtowns. He was named after a role of Laurence Oliver.

Tosca was her next purchase. She was born in 1945. It was her most successful partnership after Finality, winning many medals and major showjumping prizes of the day. Tosca is one of the ones she most often competed abroad. After her retirement from showjumping in the mid fifties, she bred several foals, including Lucia (by Gay Scot, born 1957), Favourita (by Blue Duster, born 1958), Flamenca (by Tambourin, born 1959), Laurella (by Schapiro, born 1960), Prince Igor (by Shapiro born 1961), Chocolate Soldier (her sixth, by either Bitter Sweet or Cortachy, born 1962), Melba (by Pincola, born 1963), Sir John (by Shapiro, born 1964) and a final foal (name unknown, by Three Card Trick). It may have been the case that after 1965, she produced several more foals.

Lucia herself produced a few foals herself which include Titania (by Schapiro, born 1962), Caruso (by Pinicola, born 1963) and Queen of Hearts (by Three Card Trick, born 1965)

Later show jumping horses included Flanagan, Brigadoon, Scorchin, Mr Pollard and Telebrae.

[edit]
Books
[edit]
Biographies
Flanagan My Friend
Jump For Joy
Jumping Around the World
Leaping Life's Fences
One Jump Ahead
Tosca and Lucia
Florian's Farmyard
[edit]
Non fictional books
Bred to Jump
Horses And Places
Pat Smythe's Book Of Horses
Pony Problems
Salute the Horse (co-author)
Show Jumping
The Field Book of the Horse
Youth in the Saddle (co-author)
(It is worth noting that although the above books were primarily aimed as an instruction manual, they are biographical to a certain extent, as they contain anedotes about her horses.)

[edit]
Fictional books
A Cotswold Adventure
A Pony For Pleasure
A Spanish Adventure
A Swiss Adventure
Jacqueline Rides For A Fall
Three Jays Against The Clock
Three Jays Go To Rome
Three Jays Go To Town
Three Jays Lend A Hand
Three Jays On Holiday
Three Jays Over The Border
(Note: The 'Three Jays' series of books featured herself in the story. The Jays family were completely fictional however.)

Answer 2

Pat Smythe Personal Life

Answer 3

No but I love to read others' autobiographies which I think stems from sneaking peaks at my older teenage cousins' diaries when I was a pre teen. Have you ever written a journal or diary? That may be a starting place. No I wouldn't tell at first as you can always edit what you feel might not be well received. Just jump in there and give it a start.