Reginald Sherriff Summerhays

For the Australian architect, see Reginald Summerhayes

Reginald Sherriff Summerhays (1880–1976) was a British equestrian, horse expert, and writer.

Biography Summerhays was born in 1880, in Kingston, one of eight children of Thomas Charles Summerhays, an affluent lawyer, and Marian Edith Sherriff. He was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School and Westminster School, and became a lawyer. In 1906, in Wimbledon, Summerhays married Anne M. Owen. They had three children and, from 1911, lived at Thames Ditton and Wimbledon.

Summerhays' stature was slight, or jockey size. He began riding horses at age five and had the "sympathetic hands" of a natural horseman. He hunted, played polo and, in 1921, rode in the Arab Horse Endurance Test.

With the outbreak of World War I, Summerhays was appointed by the British War Office as Civilian Remount Purchasing Officer, attached to the Army Service Corps. His duty was to purchase horses for use in the war, and manage their inventory.

Over the course of his life, Summerhays judged at least 500 horse shows covering virtually every breed and type of horse. He acted as President of the National Pony Society, the Donkey Breed Society, and the Arab Horse Society, and was involved with the British Show Pony Society, the Hackney Horse Society and the British Palomino Society. He inaugurated the Horse and Pony Breeding and Benefit Fund and, in 1947, founded the Horseman's Sunday gathering at Epsom Downs, an annual event which ran until 2009.

In his 50s, Summerhays became the founding editor of Riding Magazine and began to write books. At least three of his books continue to be best-sellers, with The Elements of Riding, The Problem Horse and The Summerhays Encyclopaedia for Horsemen having been translated into many languages.

Summerhays died in Wimbledon on October 25, 1976, age 96.