It is rare to find one person who has ­dedicated his whole life to the ­upliftment and development of the equestrian sports, but to find two such people, ­married to each other, is unique. ­Charlotte and David Stubbs fit this profile perfectly.

Just like her husband (who was featured in an earlier issue of SA Horseman) Charlotte has left deep footprints in the South African riding scene and none more so than by introducing the equitation competitions into the country, as well as a system for training and examining instructors.

When she was only 18, Charlotte was ­approached at a meeting of the Cape Hunt by a stranger, who had noticed her finesse and potential on a horse and asked if he might coach her. Theo de Klerk, who later became a famous South African racehorse trainer, had been trained in equitation by the Russian ­classicist, Rodzianco, his methods modern and in many ways quite revolutionary. This fired Charlotte’s imagination and she soaked up all that he had to teach her.

Charlotte, who was then studying art on a scholarship at Cape Town University, was nevertheless determined that horses, and not art, would be her future. She grabbed the ­opportunity to attend the 1948 Olympic Games in England with a friend – at the cost of her final exams! From there, she went to Ireland, where she trained under the famous Colonel Dudgeon.

Because of her training under Theo, ­Charlotte was already well-versed in the new and modern way of riding. She soon came to the attention of Major Kulesza, a Polish ­refugee, who had represented Poland at the 1936 Olympics. He took her under his wing and she passed her BHS exams in Ireland with top marks.

Competing in the show jumping arena, Charlotte quickly proved herself a force to be reckoned with, in one year winning the show jumping championships of Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Natal (the Governor General’s ­trophy for the ­Durban Centenary Show) and both ­championships in Rhodesia. Her two horses, ­Himalaya and the stallion Rokosovsky, were the first to travel by train from Cape Town to ­Rhodesia to compete there – a journey of five days!

At the end of this year she married David Stubbs and no longer had the opportunity to compete. The horses stayed in the Cape and she became involved in the family business and with the children. She later won several championships for showing, borrowing a range of horses when available.

After her marriage, Charlotte redoubled her efforts to promote the modern techniques that she had learned. The great George ­Morris ­(present chef d’ equipe of the US show­jumping team and a silver medallist in the Rome ­Olympics) lived with the Stubbs family as a young man.

She took him to watch riders in a local show and George promptly pronounced them seriously old fashioned. He said that South Africa badly needed to introduce the equitation competitions that had done so much for riding in the USA. He invited her to visit him in the States to see how this should be done.

Fuel company BP came to the party and offered a sponsorship to promote and improve riding in South Africa. This included sending Charlotte to visit George in the US. This visit launched a new chapter in Charlotte’s life.

Realising the value of equitation, she ­dedicated herself to getting it recognised and promoted as a discipline in South Africa. ­After some initial resistance, it was finally ­established in the mid-1970’s.

At Sanef’s request, Charlotte started and conducted the Sanef instructor’s exams for over 25 years.

Another rider who needs no introduction is Gonda (Butters) Betrix. Again, Charlotte had a hand in making this doyenne of South African show jumping a household name. Gonda’s mother approached Charlotte when Gonda was only four years old. She had had a bad fall from her pony and was now terrified, refusing to get back on. Charlotte took over Gonda’s training for about six years. The rest is history.

Her own three children are another ­tribute to Charlotte’s teaching skills. All three Stubbs children, Matthew, Fiona and Richard, ­competed at top level as children and juniors, representing their province. Matthew won the SA ­Eventing Championship at the age of 18. All three ­children were instructed by their parents.

While at university, Charlotte used to ­perform ride work for trainers before lectures and ­competed ­successfully in many ladies’ races at Kenilworth and Durbanville race courses. Together with famous race horse trainer, Terrance Millard they trained some of her own horses for him to ride in the Cape Hunt hurdle races.

Charlotte was invited to judge at many shows all over South Africa and in England, and later became the chairman of the THS ­showing committee as well as its first ­international showing judge. As chairman, she updated all the showing rules for Sanef, bringing them in line with the best in the world.

In the late 1960’s, when the ­Thoroughbred ruled supreme in the South ­African show jumping arenas, she noticed the Warmbloods that were the rage in Europe and the UK. She liked these horses and realised the valuable part they could play in improving the jumping lines in South Africa.

She travelled to Ireland, Germany and ­Sweden, where she bought Warmbloods for SA on behalf of Sydney Press, founder of ­Edgars Stores.

It took another 20-30 years for ­Warmbloods to become popular and to prove Charlotte right yet again. Two of the mares she had ­imported at the time, were from the famous L-lines, which produced the great Landgraaf that are today so sought after for jumping. Unfortunately, due to their cool reception at the time, those lines were lost, both mares ending up in obscurity.

Charlotte Stubbs has represented South Africa at international riding conventions in England, Australia, Sweden and Holland on numerous occasions, meeting HRH Prince Phillip when he was the chairman of the FEI, in her ­efforts to raise the standards of riding in this country ever higher and higher. She was ­presented with a certificate from the ­International Olympic Committee for her efforts and contribution to the equestrian world.

She has been presented with similar ­certificates from South African equestrian ­bodies, in recognition and appreciation for her ceaseless and tireless work. Yet Charlotte has remained ­totally unpretentious, and has never lost the qualities that established her as one of the true ladies in the South African equestrian world.