The King And I
Equi-Ads England & Wales, May 2001

In February Kuchina Johnson told us about her little palomino Gringo This month she talks about the one and only Furioso.

Next in line to the throne is Furioso and I say throne because he is a king among horses. He has not been a moment's trouble since the day he was born at my father's yard from the original stock imported from Spain some 30 years ago.

He is most famous for the Tia Maria commercials on television, galloping across he desert and, with the help of a very good make up team, I am the handsome sheikh making my way across the sand to my princess! Watching it on television it all looks very grand. In reality it was actually filmed at Camber Sands in Sussex in the pouring rain with my four week old daughter in tow.

Furioso attends many shows giving haute-ecole displays to which he gives his undivided attention. A real professional. through the year 2000 he escorted my youngest horse, Suerte, and whenever Suerte gets out of his depth Furioso steps in cool, calm and collected, thinking very much about what he does. The young one, well he just does what he thinks!

After a show, when Suerte comes out of the arena he wants to meet everybody at once. Furioso likes to go back to his box to have his treat and sponge down, have a little think to himself and only then will he receive his public. He will pose for photographs as well as Posh and Becks, stick his tongue out at the children and he even smiles for the camera. Young Suerte just looks on enviously. I can only hope that one day he will reach the same standard as Furioso.

Furioso will be escorting Suerte again in 2001 to give confidence to the youngster, so come and see for yourself just how proud a horse he is.

Bye for now, Kuchina.