Gleaming grey who wants to be Black Beauty!
WITH his dazzling coat, Woody looks like the whitest grey horse in the world, particularly after a grooming session at his stables.
As these pictures show, however, the 20-year- old hunter is not so keen on keeping his pristine appearance.
Once owner Joanne Billington’s back is turned, the mischievous horse heads straight for the filthiest puddle he can find, liking nothing better than rolling around in the mud from head to tail.
His penchant for a mucky wallow has earned him the nickname ‘the happy hippo’ among other riders and owners.
Miss Billington told the Daily Mail that getting Woody’s coat in order and looking spotless often takes her hours at a time.
But the 34-year-old joked: ‘Sometimes I don’t know why I bother.
‘I’ve owned Woody since he was four years old and he has always loved rolling around in mud.
‘If the weather has been wet, like it was a lot this winter, he makes a beeline for puddles. He likes to splash around in them, rolling on his back and getting as dirty as possible. We call him the happy hippo because he really loves to wallow – and he always looks so pleased with himself.’
Miss Billington, a riding instructor at Larton Stables in Frankby, Wirral, admitted that grooming the 16.2-hands horse was an arduous task.
‘I can spend hours getting his coat clean, I’m constantly washing him,’ she said.
‘We have a couple of horses at the stables who like rolling in mud, but none of them as much as Woody. He’s renowned for it. I’m not exactly sure why. I’m not sure if it is to cool himself down because he does it in all weathers, summer and winter.
‘Sometimes I can see him watching me from across the yard and when he thinks I’m not looking he’s straight into a puddle – he is a nuisance!’
While many horses appear white, there is no such thing as an all-white horse; they are actually grey. A horse goes grey when its coat loses colouration as a result of its genes – much like when human hair turns grey. This often happens by the time a horse is six years old.