‘Miracle’ horse proves vets wrong
A HORSE having his first run since 2015 has bounced back from a career-threatening injury to win the BE100open.
Two years ago, Gaynor Green’s 13-year-old gelding Zep sustained an injury to the impar ligament in his foot. Examinations at both Newmarket and Rossdale’s provided a bleak prognosis.
“The only thing I could do was rest him and see,” said Gaynor, who bought the Burggraaf son from Piggy French eight years ago. “About a year later, I looked at him in the field and thought, ‘You’re not lame any more’.”
Gaynor, who works full-time as an occupational therapist, now has her sights set on novice and a CIC*: “I train with Nini French. She told me I wasn’t allowed to move up until I had some decent results at this level, so I pulled my socks up, had some dressage lessons and bought a stopwatch.”
Open novice victor Master Jack III is also defying veterinary convention. Lucy Bullas’ 16-yearold advanced gelding has uveitis in one eye.
“I dropped him down a few levels because of his age and his condition, which has worsened this year,” explained Lucy.
“It doesn’t seem to affect his performance, but he has to wear a mask at home with a special cup over his eye to keep out the light.”
Shelford hosted two Mitsubishi Motors Cup regional finals (RF) and Katie Stephens-Grandy bagged two tickets with her talented duo, Mr Music (winner of the BE90RF) and Trendy Magic Touch (second in the BE100RF).
“We like Shelford’s technical showjumping tracks and there are always plenty of changes to the cross-country,” said Katie, who bred Mr Music from a part-bred Connemara bought from Ireland.
“Six weeks after, she gave birth. She was such a good mum, we put her in foal to Country Top Dollar and Mr Music was the result.”