Anneli Drummond-Hay, horsewoman who reigned supreme in both eventing and show jumping

Elizabeth Ann Drummond-Hay (August 1937 - 31 July 2022), better known as Anneli Drummond-Hay, was a British eventer and show jumper who won the 1961 Burghley Horse Trials riding her horse Merely-a-Monarch. Anneli Drummond-Hay was born in Scotland on August 1937 to James Drummond-Hay (1905 - 1981) and his wife Lady Margaret Douglas-Hamilton (1907 - 1993), a daughter of Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton.

At the age of 16, she won the European Pony Championship and was the leading rider of combined training in Britain for three years. She won both Badminton and the first ever Burghley Horse Trials and was 2nd five times.

Anneli Drummond-Hay and Merely-a-Monarch.

She changed discipline to show jumping and won many Grand Prix competitions including Brussels, Geneva, `s-Hertogenbosch, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Chile, Luxembourg, Monaco, Madrid, Mexico, Amsterdam, South Africa, Palermo and Great Britain. She was 2nd in Aachen, Rotterdam and the La Baule Grand Prix. She won the Rome Derby twice, the Hickstead Derby twice, the Geneva Derby, the Berlin Derby and the South African Derby twice.

She toured America and won the Grand Florida Championship, Madison Square Garden Championship and the National Show Jumping Championship. She represented Great Britain in the Olympics & Nations Cup competitions and was awarded the FEI Badge of Honor.

She holds the women`s high jump world record of 2.36 meters, set by horse Sporting Ford.

Anneli Drummond-Hay on Sporting Ford at Hickstead in 1970

She is the only athlete to be nominated for the same Olympic Games at Olympic level in the disciplines of dressage, show jumping and eventing. During her stay in Holland, she coached the 2000 and 2001 Dutch junior show jumping champions.

she coached the runners-up at the Junior European 3-day event. Her horse Merrerie-a-Monarch was inducted into the British Equestrian Association Equestrian Hall of Fame in 2005 and on 19 October 2010 the British Equestrian Association Equestrian Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held at the Household Cavalry Cavalry Regiment Barracks in Knightsbridge, London.

Anneli Drummond-Hay on the equine love of her life, Merely-A-Monarch, in 1963

Anneli Drummond-Hay held B.H.S.I. Qualification. She then ran Penny Place Stables in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa, teaching students of all ages and ability levels. Anneli Drummond-Hay appeared in the "trailer sketch" of Monty Python`s Flying Circus (narrated by Eric Idle) in the second season episode of "Archeology Today", where she rode Mr. Softie.