Memories of Joe Turi?

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Eryres

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I was just wondering if anyone has any memories of Joe Turi. No particular reason except that I would enjoy reading them. He was one of the riders I especially admired as a child. He seemed a colourful character with a lot of talent and determination. I was sad to learn he had died in 2003.

I especially remember watching him win the 1990 Hickstead Derby with Vital and reading an interview with him in Horse and Pony magazine. He said if he didn't get a sponsor he would buy a farm in Hungary and go back there. I hoped he wouldn't have to go. I was under the impression he was going to give up showjumping and become a farmer! I'm glad he continued to do well after returning home.

Did you ever meet him or work for him (and his mentor/horse owner Michael Bullman)? What was he like? Do you remember watching him on TV or at a show? If you remember any old magazine articles that would be interesting too. :)
 
I remember watching him on TV jumping Vital - I have a feeling i may have seen him jumping live as well but can't be sure. Loved that horses, he was stunning. Those were the days when people had horses you remembered, with short names! Didn't Joe Turi die in an accident (motorbike?) several years ago?? I could be wrong, my memory's cr*p.
 
I remember Joe from when i was younger, going around competing with my partner, mainly Harwood Hall, you had Joe Turi, Bob Hoekstra, Michelle/Anette Lewis, John Bunyan, etc, they were all part of my younger years.
I remember being at a show and Joe had got placed but put his horse on the box, my partner was standing holding his horse and Joe just walked up and asked if he could use him to go get his rosette to save taking his horse off the box.
Those were the days.....shame you have to grow old and lose all that, but the memories remain.
 
I just had to check as didn't want to say he'd died when he hadn't. Looks like he did die in 2003 and it was a motorcycle accident. So sad. I can still picture Vital now (think at olympia) he was such a bright bay and he had that big mane!
 
That's a name I haven't heard for a while! I remember watching him jumping bareback on TV and I actually got his autograph at HOYS many years ago! I though he was great!
 
I'm sure it was Jo Turi who I saw jump a metre high fence on two horses at the same time - one foot on each horse - at Olympia????
 
Yep Vital was a stallion, he is my event mare's damsire. My mare has the same bright bay colour and huge star. I'm not old enough to remember them competing but I've seen videos on youtube and they made a fantastic partnership.
Such a sad death for a talented sportsman
 
I remember him at one of our local shows - he asked me to hold a horse while he went to get another - it was a lovely young chestnut called Home Run, and I saw it at HOYS a couple of years later. He stood and chatted for a while and was a charming, lovely man - he signed his entry number for me when he went off.
 
Joe did ineed die in 2003 - the result of an accident on a quad bike in woodland. He and Michael had built a super facility south of Budapest and were show jumping from there. James Wingrave, who was on the GB young rider team went out to Hungary to ride the horses for Michael after Joe's death. The two are still working together with considerable success.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I've enjoyed reading them and look forward to any more yet to come. The stories from the shows are fun. :)

Re: the You Tube videos, thanks for the link, I've seen the clips, and remember watching both (Hickstead 1988 and 1990) on TV at the time. The interview after his 1990 win was funny. "I was hanging on his tail, trying to slow him down"; sounds like a Thelwell cartoon.

I only learned a few months ago that Joe had died. I thought, I wonder how he's doing, imagining he was back in Hungary, Googled him, and the first thing that came up was his obituary. It was an awful shock. (I don't know what I was doing in the early 2000s but only recently found out about Nick Skelton's spinal injury as well.)

Looking on the internet, including in the online newspaper archives, I discovered quite a bit about Joe that I didn't know before. He had such an interesting life, it's a shame he didn't write his autobiography.

According to the papers, he came off the motorbike when it hit a tree. It was Easter Sunday and he was in a coma for about ten days before he died. It will be eight years ago at the end of this month.

A Hickstead trophy was created to commemorate him and there's also a grand prix class named after him at the Kaposvár Horse Show in Hungary.

Re: standing on the backs of two horses, going over fences at Olympia, yes, that was him (in 1984). He came to England with a csikós troupe in 1973 and jumped out of the back of the lorry.
 
Agree with Brighteyes - I am sure I read that he defected from a Hungarian circus when it travelled over here - literally jumped off the back of the lorry.

He then rode someone's horses, before he got into the sj scene properly, which he used to exercise on a large roundabout in the evening because he hadn't got a school, and the roundabout was the perfect size, large, flat and lit up!
 
I remember him at HOYS in the year when they built a strange bank arrangement over the entrance to the ring. The second horse to go over it fell and broke a leg. Joe was due to go a few horses later and offered to go next. He went over that horrible bank beautifully. We all cheered and cheered his courage and great riding. Thank goodness the judges then withdrew the fence.
 
Thanks again everyone for your replies. I enjoyed your story, sprytzer. Presumably your partner did lend him his horse for the rosette-giving! That must have confused the judge. :)

What a nice memory, Abacus.

I liked your post about your event mare, tinkerbell88. How lovely that she has inherited Vital's colour and star.

Re: the roundabout, Michael Bullman said Joe used to school his first horse on it at one o'clock in the morning!

NoCollection, what a great memory of Joe at the HOYS. The bank sounds awful, glad they withdrew it.

I came across a couple of posts on other forums by people remembering the fancy dress at Olympia. Someone recalled Joe driving a car at a "silly speed" with John Whitaker in the back in a leopard print mini dress, fishnet stockings and high heels, his legs sticking out of the window. Another person remembered Joe riding in "stockings, suspenders and tiny black shorts". :eek: Those are not the sort of images you forget in a hurry.
 
I remember Joe doing his circus act at Olympia on TV, he had his horses lying down and yes, standing with a foot on each as they cantered round together.

Not just a show jumper or performer, he was a true horseman and we only ever saw glimpses of his talent and the affinity he had with horses.
 
Thanks Clippy. I didn't know his act included the horses lying down, although I read that he'd done it in Hungary. From the newspaper articles I found out he left school at 14 and so would have learned and performed the csikós tricks with the troupe over a period of two years at the most, during which time he broke a few ribs and a leg (three times)! I'm not sure how long it takes for a broken leg to mend (I suppose it depends on which bone it is and what kind of fracture) but he must have been left with very little time to learn the tricks. He must have learned them very quickly.

I wonder if he ever stood on the backs of two cantering horses with another three in front (the "puszta five") at shows. He must have been able to do it. I suppose it would have depended on whether Michael Bullman could supply him with enough horses! I seem to remember a picture in Horse and Pony magazine of him with a horse sitting down as well. I have in my mind that it was a dappled grey horse, although I'm not sure.
 
Only just seen this post
Joe was one of two Csikos who jumped ship after their show performance in 1973 and ended up at the yard where I was training.
Joe was great - in spite of having no English, he was charming and got on with everyone, especially the horses. I remember him teaching one of the horses to 'sit' in the field - it seems to only take him a few minutes, tho it was probably longer than that but he did it in one session.
He was a real horseman with a natural gift for gently getting the best out of any horse or pony and I followed his career whilst he was in the UK, watching him compete and win in real style. I also remember him riding a camel at one of the international shows.
Only spent a short amount of time at the same yard as him bu he made a lasting impression on me - what a loss when he went
 
My boss had a horse previously from him. Serious jumper though wasn't a modern looking type jumper - heavier dutch warbmlood stamp.

He's one in a million...owner has/had him up for sale for very cheap on HM atm though he's in his late teens now and nothings mentioned about his previous jumping career on there. So if you want a bargain, genuine horse...have a browse if you can find him ;)
 
My husband is from Essex and knew Joe really well during the 80's and has told me so many stories about Joe who was my idol when I was a child (husband is older than me, btw!!)
I remember being at Mill Lodge Equestrian Centre in Upwell which my parents friends owned, as a young child, maybe four or five years old, and Joe came and sat with me in the stand.
(I was the only person there, I could watch horses for hours and not move as a child)
He told me all about the horses that were being worked. I will always remember him explaining to me about stars and blazes and drawing on my face with his finger. According to my parents, he sat with me for hours teaching me about horses!
 
Hi I was lucky enough to know Jo in the 80's. He was a fantastic loving guy with the biggest smile and the most amazing ability to tune into horses and get the best out of them. All his horses worshipped him and he could jump on anyone of them loose in the field and get them doing tricks. We used to take the horses out for a hck and swim them near his home. Some of my happiest memories are from my time with Jo at his fab yard in Chipping Ongar.
Vital was only a very young horse then and Jo was winning classes with mares Culters Bellini and Cutlers Once more. We also went to Wembley with Denim Hills and he won the Puissance we had big celebrations that night.
Jo was a legend in my book and I still miss him to this day, hearing of his death in Hungary was tragic. I was part of his life for 6 months met his mum and shared special times with Jo and Michael Bullman his best friend in life, yes definately a happy memory in my book.:)
 
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