Showjumping doyen Douglas Bunn died on 16 June, 2009, aged 81.

He founded the All England Jumping Course at Hickstead in 1960 and created the exhilarating sport of team chasing among several important innovations.

His legendary status led Horse and Hound editor Michael Clayton to say: “Douglas Bunn was undoubtedly the greatest innovator in British show jumping in the post-war years. He had flair as well as originality in making horse sports fun for the spectator, as well as offering a new challenge to the competitor.”

He was born on 29 February, 1928, in Selsey Bill on the West Sussex coast where his family owned the profitable Bunn Leisure caravan park.

There he was familiar with horses from an early age and even when he began his career as a barrister he continued to ride in showjumping events – he was said to wear breeches beneath his gowns so he could rush away from court to ride.

He set up his course at Hickstead in rural West Sussex to rival the equestrian facilities available in America and Europe.

The annual Derby event attracted as many as 20,000 spectators and offered more than £200,000 in prize money to riders, and Hickstead also hosted international horse shows, dressage and polo competitions. It has staged several major international events, including the 1974 World Championships and several European Show Jumping Championships.

The Bunn family business underwrote much of the cost of the site and Douglas was known as a bon vivant of the horse world, throwing legendary parties. As well as running Hickstead, he was also chairman and president of the British Show Jumping Association.

He was married three times and had ten children.