Michael Naylor-Leyland

The records show that Michael Naylor-Leyland was selected for the individual and team three-day events at the 1952 Olympics. Unfortunately, he could not compete after catching chickenpox. Four years later, he was scheduled to ride High and Mighty at the 1956 Games but the horse went lame, and his Olympic ambitions were again thwarted. In between his two scheduled Olympic appearances, Naylor-Leyland won a team gold medal with the GB squad at the 1955 European Trials at Turin, when he also won an individual bronze.

Naylor-Leyland was educated at Eton and received a war-time emergency commission into the Life Guards in 1944, and served as a captain in the Household Cavalry. He was awarded the Military Cross after rescuing civilians in Palestine whilst under fire in 1947, and without regard to his own safety. An expert huntsman, Naylor-Leyland later trained three-day event horses including Leadhills who, under the name Beagle Boy, was ridden by Lucinda Prior-Palmer-Green to victory at Badminton and Burghley. Naylor-Leyland was also an eventing judge and was a technical adviser at Badminton and the 1976 Montréal Olympics.

After attending the 1948 London Olympics as a spectator, Naylor-Leyland had two ambitions. One was to run a marathon, which he did. The other was to appear in the Olympics … which he nearly did.