‘I had 57 breaks on my skull and face’ – meet the comeback rider aiming for Badminton

When Sam Ecroyd flew round Pau Horse Trials’ cross-country course at the end of last season, he was not only achieving the first clear inside the time that day, but also a personal first.

“It was my first time clear round a five-star – I’ve attempted three previously and been entered at a couple of others and through horse injury or mistakes, it hasn’t come off,” he says. “When you get those results at the top level having put in the hard work for a long time, it’s a real highlight.”

A medallist at pony, junior and young rider levels, Sam’s journey to this point has been punctuated by serious injury in 2021, when he had a rotational fall across country two fences from home in a novice class at Kelsall Hill.

“I was knocked out and had a bleed on my brain. I had 57 breaks on my skull and face and I didn’t ride at all that year,” he says. “It was the worst timing in that I had two horses entered for Badminton and was all gearing up for a five-star push after all those years of aiming to get there.

“I had had a strong youth career and was ready to take on that bigger level so it was a big setback systematically and physically. I ended up on the sidelines and it’s take a while to get back again.”

After his fall, Sam Ecroyd was initially nervous about coming back because the doctors were “rightly cautious”, saying it would be advisable for him not to ride again.

He explains: “I spoke to people who’d had more severe head injuries and everyone said not to rush back – they said, ‘You’ll feel fine, but you’re not.’ I did feel fine quite quickly, but I made the decision not to ride for a year. I had bad vision for a while and problems with co-ordination and balance. But I sat on my five-star horse three or four weeks after the accident, just to see if I could ride and I felt fine, so I was always holding on to that.

“Having a year gave me time to reflect on what happened and to get hungry again. It made coming back easier as I was desperate to get back on and get going, so I was quite lucky in that respect. And it helped I didn’t come back with a five-star horse so I could ease myself in again.”

The top horses Sam had had before his fall, Wodan III and Davinci III, had dropped out of his string through injury or retirement.

“I had a big gap back to three- and four-year-olds, so it’s been five years of hard work and early mornings, going round BE100s in the dark – so 2025 was my first year back with a string of four-star horses, so it’s really pleasing to get good results,” he says. “It’s a long journey for everybody: owners, rider, grooms.”

Sam Ecroyd’s top horses

Sam has had both his top horses from three-year-olds. Stewart and Vicki Irlam’s Boleybawn Lecrae (Patrick) was 10th at Bramham Horse Trials CCI4*-L last June as a 10-year-old, eighth and fifth in two CCI4*-Ss and then 17th at Pau.

Sam says: “He was an absolute terror as a young horse. He wasn’t particularly badly behaved, but he is a life enthusiast and everything he did was quite wild so it was trying to harness that into the correct direction. My back four molar teeth are smashed and broken because I was cantering him around the outdoor arena when he stopped and reared up and smacked me in the face, so that’s a reminder of him every day.”

The rider had just started to make progress with Patrick when he had his accident, so French rider Victor Burtin, who was riding for Oliver Townend at the time, took him on for six months.

“He helped cement those foundations and did a good job,” says Sam. “Patrick then missed half a season through injury as a seven-year-old which meant he was a bit behind time-wise, but actually being 18hh, that was the best thing for him. He’s caught up now – it’s amazing how a bit of patience early on can reward you later.

“He’s a delight to handle but quite a character to ride – all he wants to do is gallop flat out everywhere and he finds doing dressage a bit boring sometimes. But he’s always been a mega cross-country horse. He has unbelievable co-ordination and if you leave him alone and let him do his thing, he flies round.”

Sam will aim Patrick at either Badminton or Luhmühlen 2026, depending on how the spring season goes.

“It will be another educational year at five-star, trying to look after him and not hurt him, then I think he’s a horse to be competitive at that level,” he says. “I have ridden for his owners for nine or 10 years and the goal has always been to have a horse to go round the biggest shows. I think he’s capable of it.”

Sam will aim Julie and Michael Hall’s Mister Big Ears, who is the same age as Patrick and was third in the CCI4*-S at Scone Palace last August, at Luhmühlen.

“He’s cool, the best horse ever,” he smiles. “He’s a gritty little fighter. I was going to take him to Pau, but he ran hard at Scone and I thought I wouldn’t abuse the fact he’d had the decency to come out of it sound and well, so he could have a nice holiday and go again next year.”

Where is Sam Ecroyd based?

Sam is based in north Wales, on the Flintshire-Cheshire border, with his partner Emily King. Brazilian Olympian Carlos Parro and Rio Hall, a rider from the Isle of Man, are also based at the yard.

He says: “It is my family’s place and we’ve been here 40 years – it was a farm originally and has grown horsier and horsier. We are lucky to have a great base and we have about 40 horses on the place altogether.

“Emily and I are doing our best to try and run an equestrian business – as everyone knows it’s pretty hard work, so we just keep our heads down and try to keep going.”

• Enjoyed reading this? For more expert insight on top riders, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You may also be interested in: