The Funnell Factor, which returned after five years, finished last night in Merrist Wood, its sixth and final venue.  After what had been a rather cold and turbulent tour which included being snowed in at Gleneagles, Pippa and William Funnell produced an evening that was entertaining and educational.

Watch our interviews with Pippa and William on the links below, and read our review of the event.

Watch our catch up interview with William Funnell

Watch our catch up interview with Pippa Funnell 

‘The funny haunchy thing’

The evening kicked off with a quick introduction from William Funnell about the tour and the Billy Stud before a dressage demonstration from Pippa Funnell.  The twist to the demonstration was that it was performed on the brilliant Billy Congo, William’s top jumping stallion.  The masterclass was insightful and thought provoking - not just due to the extraordinary way Billy Congo has been produced on the flat, but through Pippa’s self-critical style, which made the audience connect with every step she took.  Pippa also rode and talked through a test giving a narrative of what was running through her mind as she rode the test. The ‘time for the funny haunchy thing’, referring to a pirouette, tickled us but we loved Pippa’s candidness at demonstrating her and Billy Congo’s short fallings and constantly reminding herself to breathe.

Brilliant Billy horses

The demonstration then moved on to a schooling session on the flat and over fences, with William joining Pippa on a five-year-old chestnut.  The performance showed just some of the different training techniques that make the Billy Stud horses so successful and brilliantly produced, while at the same time Billy Congo gave the audience a laugh with his slightly more exuberant behaviour.  He was very pleased to be jumping in front of an audience! This was clearly where William came into his own, encouraging the young horse to improve in straightness and balance while shouting instructions at his wife to keep her heels down!

William’s Badminton plans

After the break it was Pippa’s turn to demonstrate what she does best and the indoor cross country jumps came out.  Pippa again took the crowd through her warm up on a stunning bay before William entered the  ring on what the crowd was told was to be ‘his Badminton horse’.  The crowd were informed that the horse was six and named Billy Go Lightly. William skilfully made the 17hh bay look heavy and clumsy over a fence.  A few eagle eyed fans spotted that Go Lightly was in fact William’s amazing Derby winning 16-year-old Mondriaan. The session was filled with hilarity as William followed Pippa around wearing an ill-fitting body protector and silkless crash hat, still adorned with the price tag. He made the fences look difficult, while Pippa coached him along and then it came down to a course in which the couple competed.  Pippa easily won after Mondriaan took great aversion to a skinny upright and despite William’s blatant cheating. 

Pippa takes on 1m70

After the cross country came more show jumping, and while Pippa was talking the crowd through her techniques for coping with nerves, William appeared on a pocket sized chestnut causing Pippa to break in her stride.  After establishing that the chestnut was Pippa’s horse and under no circumstance was William riding Billy Angelo, aka Ginge, William reluctantly came back on the impressive Billy Brown.  The show jumping demo was nothing short of spectacular with each round bringing bigger fences and the competition was on.  Ginge, not to be showed up by Billy Brown’s rear end acrobatics, demonstrated that he too could be a handful as the jumps got bigger.  The pair skilfully negotiated round after round with the fences increasing in size.  The final fence got to 1m70 and William went first, clearing it with ease.  Pippa, on a horse considerably smaller than the jump, demonstrated why she is one of the best eventers in the world with a foot perfect round causing the audience to burst into applause.

The whole evening was not only a brilliantly funny and educational  showcase for  the Billy Stud and its beautifully produced horses, but showed what an excellent and fun couple the Funnells are.  It is easy to see why these two unique individuals are still at the top of their game and H&C cannot wait to see what 2011 has in store for them.