The equestrian community in Bermuda is mourning the loss of Claire Howard, who died suddenly last month just a few days before her 40th birthday.

Howard competed regularly for Bermuda as a teenage show jumper and qualified for five FEI Regional Finals, competing in Chile, Guatemala and Venezuela. Although stepping away from the sport after qualifying as a lawyer — she worked for Appleby’s and Artex — she was still a regular spectator at horse shows on island.

Bermuda Equestrian Federation president Carla Stempel was last with Howard at a recent event and recalled somebody always ready with a helping hand.

“Even though she stopped riding competitively, she’d still come out to horse shows to watch,” Stempel said.

“She stayed to help us pack up and for somebody to offer help, it’s like gold. At the end of the horse show, you’ve got three women packing up the ring, driving the tractor and you see all the men quickly getting in their cars, on their bikes and driving out.

“That’s just the way it is, but Claire stayed to help and she was like gold dust.”

Howard was about eight years old when she first sat on a horse and nobody in the equine community on island knew her better than Dawn Fox, the trainer who watched the young rider take her first tentative steps on a horse.

Fox formed a close bond with Howard and is still coming to terms with the loss of a young woman she watched go from a novice with potential to competing on the international stage.

“It’s hard to accept and I’m still trying to process that she’s not here,” Fox said.

“We would communicate every day and I’m really very close with her family. A lot of students, you do get close to them and I don’t have my own kids so they become my kids.

“I was like a second mum to her and her sister and we were all very close.”

Fox can remember Howard as that little girl who came into the yard for the first time and she was quickly taken by her ability.

“From the first day she had the type of personality that would allow her to make a connection with a horse,” Fox said.

“She had a really good feel and she built a really strong bond and relationship with her horses.

“She was also consistent and whether she won, she lost or she fell off, she wasn’t overemotional, and emotions play a part when you come into competition.

“People get very nervous and they don't perform at their best or they get angry or this or that, but she was just very level and when she came out of the ring she was exactly the same person as she was in it. That was her best attribute.”

Howard had the chance to travel across the region during her time at the top in Bermuda and Fox recalls some of her experiences.

“She was so committed to what she did when she was doing it and she really put the extra training in,” Fox said.

“She went away after she’d been to Guatemala to train with one of the guys there and before she went to Chile she went to spend some time with Patrick Nisbett and do some extra training with him.

“A couple of horses that she had came from him and she had the opportunity to go away. I remember going to Atlanta as her sister had a horse at boarding school. We went and showed him.

“They leased a jumper and Claire was able to ride in the Olympic ring there, which was a great experience.”

Howard combined education with competing but BEF president Stempel is sure that she would have attained a high level had she focused solely on her sporting career.

“It was her personality that would have made her successful,” Stempel said. “She had a natural feel for a horse without it being manufactured or too demanding.

“With the right horse, the right ride, she could have easily made it to CAC Games. Could she have gone to the Olympics? Who knows? But I really believe that she had the talent to at least get to major regional events.”

Fox has lost someone she has known for three decades but is keen for those who did not know Howard to recognise just how special she was.

“She was the type of person that the general public needs to know about,” Fox said.

“She was an all-round beautiful person. She had the sporting side and the sport she chose was equestrian, but she also had a career side as a trust lawyer.

“That can be demanding, but In my opinion she was the total package.”