Alan Oliver Historic Horse Show Jumper Hand Signed Picture

chau3157 This is a vintage 8" x 6" glossy early what seems a book plate picture but I cannot be sure as there are no signs of removal - it does however have two folds where posted - It is of Alan Oliver historic horse show jumper (see below) and the autograph rests by hand perfectly below his portrait and a very scarce signing.

Alan was a beanpole of a lad when at age eleven he first emerged on the adult show jumping scene riding his father's horses and a hunter on loan from a garage owner, Harry Payne. Both his size and his acrobatic style would have made him easily recognizable - and so would the number of prizes won by the young farmer's son. By his late teens and early twenties Alan had a wonderful string of horses to ride. He partnered six of them - Red Admiral, Red Star, Galway Boy, Sheila, John Gilpin and Planet. Competing in the 1953 Leading Show Jumper of the Year at Harringay, Alan achieved a phenomenal result by filling six of the top seven places. "I just kept jumping them off one after the other," he said:  I actually won the class on Red Admiral and when we walked into the ring and I looked up at the board I thought: "That's funny - there's nobody else up there."

Red Admiral, probably the best horse he ever rode, was also his mount in a memorable duel with the German Olympic captain, Fritz Thiedemann, in the 1954 King George V Gold Cup at White City. Time had not yet been introduced as the deciding factor in a jump-off, so the two riders completed five rounds in an atmosphere of mounting tension before Thiedemann prevailed on Meteor  In the latter part of his career he had tremendous success with other horses including Sweep and Pitz Palu. When Alan retired from competition, he became much in demand as an International Course Designer. , Alan passed away in Dunstable, Bedfordshire on September 10th, 2006.