Margarson's Bean A Social Star

When chatting with amateur jockey Rosie Margarson, it's impossible to remain in a foul mood as her bright, booming laugh echoes merrily through phone speakers. She brings that sunny attitude to social media by posting messages and videos as her equally endearing horse, Caribbean Spring (Ire).

Best known as 'Bean,' the Irish-bred gelding delights some 3,375 fans on Twitter with tales of mischievous antics, joy in running and eating snacks, and an affectionate relationship with 25-year-old Margarson. Currently residing in Cheveley near Newmarket, Margarson is a rider and communications assistant for her father, trainer George Margarson.

The elder Margarson has 18 horses in his yard right now and four yearlings. Rosie works part-time as a communications assistant for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and also rides out with Bean each day.

Along with her elder sister Katie, an assistant trainer, Margarson grew up in Suffolk stable yards. The sisters blossomed into horsewomen under the tutelage of George–whom Rosie-as-Bean dubs 'Boss Human' on Twitter–and mother Gaye, AKA 'Mother of Bean.' Rosie herself is 'Small Human.'

“It's probably the best upbringing you could ever ask for,” she said. “You're outside all the time. I had a pony that was my responsibility from the age of six. It taught me an awful lot that you don't learn in school.”

Having her entire family working with horses molded Margarson. She added that “seeing them work had made me a much harder worker in my older age.”

Margarson first exercised mounts for her father at 14 and began officially riding out two years later. At the end of 2017, she applied for a job at the Racing Post and didn't get it. Deciding to take a break, she traveled to India, Thailand, Indonesia, and Australia. Upon arriving Down Under, she got a license as a trackwork rider for trainer David Hayes.

“It was refreshing because they actually all thought I was quite a good rider, which I hadn't got a lot of at home,” she recalled. “So normally a lot of the time when I was younger, Dad would put me on very quiet horses because I wasn't the most confident rider. I used to be quite a nervous rider and then I went to Australia for a month and rode in Australia. And they just put me on anything they felt like and it taught me a lot about riding, so when I came home, I became more confident, and Bean actually has brought me on leaps and bounds. I'd have never thought I'd be riding him, certainly not in races.”

She returned to the UK in spring 2018 to work as a communications assistant for the British Horse Racing Authority. In that role, she said she “learned to be a lot better with communication, because the BHA is a huge, nationwide team. You're working with people in Scotland, people down south; you've got to be very inclusive to everyone.” She added, “Everything you do has an impact on someone else; you have to be very thoughtful in whatever you do, as such.”

The BHA post improved her interpersonal and digital communication skills, which would serve her well when it came to Bean's account.

Rosie and Bean first met in 2016. Now six years old, the son of Dark Angel (Ire) didn't immediately make much of an impression. Margarson recalled, “We bought him as a 3-year-old and he came into the yard from Ireland. He was quite little then; he didn't make much of an appearance.”

At first, George Margarson had another apprentice, Jane, ride Bean. When the two didn't click, Gaye offered to take on the gelding.

“And she got on really well with him,” Margarson said. “I'm a very similar rider too in that we both, if a horse likes doing something and if they're happy and having a nice time, we let them get on with it. But it was Mum that fell in love with him, head over heels, first of all, and when I came home and started riding him out every day, I say it took a month before I decided I loved him.”

In July 2018, Margarson officially took out her amateur riders' license. The first time she rode Bean, the spritely horse behaved surprisingly well. Margarson recalled, “It came at an odd time because I'd dislocated my shoulder from falling off another horse and the first horse I rode back was Bean. He was a gentleman for the day; for once in his life, he actually behaved.”

Bean's good behavior didn't last long, she said: “Riding him the first week, I'll happily admit, I was a little bit frightened of him because he sometimes just launches himself into alternate space.”

But his charm endeared him to his rider, nonetheless. She noted, “As soon as you get used to him, you enjoy it and you laugh about it and you have a great time and you end up thoroughly in love with the little idiot.”

The bay's personality immediately made an impact on Rosie, who mused, “He is the most charactered [sic] horse any of us have ever met. There are things he'll do that other horses wouldn't even dream of.”

Whether tossing his bucket out the stall door, standing with his hay net on his head, or eagerly greeting other runners on the heath, Bean quickly became a favorite.

Margarson first posted footage of Bean's irrepressible antics on her personal Twitter feed. Eventually, a rep from Saracen Horse Feeds who enjoyed the updates advised her to create an account just for Bean. By the beginning of 2019, she'd received similar input from about 10 other people, so Margarson decided to capitalize on Bean's momentum. Margarson crafted an adorable, endearing voice, modeling it on the immensely popular Thoughts of Dog account. This means Bean 'speaks' in 'not-proper English,' as Margarson termed it, punctuating his words with lots of commas and frequent use of the word 'heckin.'

Rosie includes Bean 'narrating' video clips of his exercise and pictures of his day-to-day shenanigans. Margarson said, “Initially, I didn't have the GoPro; I was just doing wording of what had happened during the day and a little snippet of video close to home because he behaves just about five minutes from home.” Eventually, Katie lent her sibling her GoPro, and, as Rosie said, “the rest is history. The first video I put on went down really well, the second again, and I've been doing it almost daily ever since.”

Since Bean has become a minor internet celebrity, fans recognize the Margarsons and their star runner at Newmarket. Fans will approach Rosie and remark, “Oh, so you're the Small Human.” She said, “My mum gets it told to her all the time and she's like, 'Oh, gosh.'” In addition, she said, “Dad thinks it's great; he finds it all quite amusing.” Horse & Hound editor Lucy Elder commissioned Margarson to write a column series in Bean's voice, while in December, Rosie launched a Bean Fan Club. Members will be treated like owners and be invited to Bean's races; the experience, she said, will include “lots of things that we'll organize for everyone that's involved and hopefully it'll become a nice, little community.”

But perhaps the most memorable Bean and Small Human moment came in 2018. In November of that year, Rosie rode Bean to victory in The Prince's Countryside Fund Charity Race at Ascot. Charles, Prince of Wales–accompanied by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall–presented the jubilant jockey with the trophy in the winner's circle. “That was really the best day we've ever had,” Margarson recalled of the charity race. “We'd prepared him pretty well for it because we knew it was coming and there was no race before it about a month before, and he was very fit and well and ready for it.”

She added, “When he won for me, I still couldn't quite believe it. I thought, a furlong out, 'God, someone's going to catch up and we can't be quite that lucky.'” To win with a horse she had worked with so closely was of great emotional significance, as she admitted, “It meant a lot. I cried quite a lot afterwards.”

Margarson is working towards winning another race as a jockey–at least one aboard Bean, fans hope–in 2020. She will continue to develop her and horse's digital presences, perhaps taking classes in social media training.

And when Bean's desire to race fades, Margarson will retire him and retrain him for a second career. What might Bean 2.0 enjoy doing, one wonders?

“I have a feeling he's going to enjoy jumping because he's quite a clever horse,” she speculated. But as long as Bean has his Small Human, this dynamic partnership will continue to delight fans for years to come.

Follow Margarson on Twitter and Instagram at @rosiemargarson. Follow Bean on Twitter at @lifeofbean and Instagram at @thoughtsofbean.