Our story starts in late September 2012 when a 'horse for sale' ad popped up in my facebook feed. This was not an unusual occurrence, however something about the ad caught my eye. It showed a young chestnut thoroughbred mare. I had been thinking about buying a second horse but she was not what I had in mind. My older horse had been the polar opposite of what I had wanted and as a consequence I had not been able to fulfill some of my aspirations, at least at the level I had dreamed of. I was looking for a nice uncomplicated 16.2hh bay irish gelding to compete at low level affiliated eventing and dressage. Not a marish cold-backed aloof cob-beast.
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| Millie, my older mare |
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| Cross country with Millie |
But still, there was something about the photos that I liked. A casual email to the seller confirmed that she was as green as she looked but she was honest and genuine and a real trier. I thanked them for replying but decided that I should listen to my head, not my heart. And I tried to forget about her.
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| The advert photos that caught my eye |
I like to think fate intervened. A few weeks later I received some sad family news. I was really down and struggling to come to terms with the situation. One evening whilst checking facebook, the advert popped up again. I mentioned this to my Husband. His response was, 'why don't you go and have a look..?'. To this day I am certain he only said that to lift my spirits. I was taking annual leave from work, so the next day I found myself travelling down the A1 to North Yorkshire.
My first thought was how quiet she was in her 'stable' which was essentially a small pen with a strand of electric fence tape across the front. Under saddle she felt big, wobbly and unbalanced but she was totally unfazed, popping a little jump and going for a short hack on her own. I was a nervous wreck, having not ridden anything other than my little cob for the last four or five years. Her walk felt incredible, really swinging with a huge length of stride. I found out that she was bred for national hunt racing in Ireland but had never raced. She shared the same sire, Anshan, as some impressive event horses, most notably, Andromaque the 4* event mare ridden by US rider Will Faudree.
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| Anshan |
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| Andromaque |
The next day I found myself trundling down the A1 again - this time with the trailer. Heart had ruled head.
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| Just arrived! |
She didn't travel too well in the trailer and then proceeded to cut her foreleg overnight. Riding was out of the question until that had healed, so the first few weeks were dedicated to ground work and bonding. The name 'Jean' just didn't stick and so my 'Bright Orange Pony' became known as Ruby.
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| Schooling at home |
Eventually I was onboard! She was great to hack at home and she became stronger and more balanced all the time. On the ground she was a challenge, often reverting to 'stress mode'. I had never seen a horse weave as badly as Ruby. She also decided that travelling in the trailer was hateful. It took two and a half hours to load her after our first trip to riding club. My husband thought she was dangerous and should be shot. I found that she thrived on work - a tired Ruby was a happy Ruby.
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| Riding club jumping |
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| Dressage clinic |
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| Dressage plaits |
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| Riding club show jumping |
By March she had competed at two unaffiliated dressage shows, getting placed 2nd and 3rd in good company. She also collected a 1st and 3rd at her first show jumping show. In May we attempted our first hunter trial and although it wasn't a complete success we both came home with big smiles on our faces.
Ruby had a break in June and July whilst we were away on holiday. Initially when we returned, she felt great and I dared to dream that we may be able to fulfil my ambition of affiliated eventing. A few weeks later however, I realised something was amiss when she became fussy in her contact, particularly on a circle on the right rein. Around this time I noticed that she had started to develop slight muscle atrophy on her right gluteals.
In late August 2013 Ruby was found to be bilaterally forelimb lame. Here began investigations and remedial farriery (modified bar with a slight wedge) which culminated in her having an MRI scan of her feet on November 21st. Thankfully the scan ruled out major pathology in the deep digital flexor tendon and the navicular apparatus, but both coffin joints were found to have marked effusions and her medial collateral ligaments were both thickened. Her foot conformation (collapsed heels, mediolateral imbalance) was suspected to be the primary problem throughout the investigations.
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| Initial remedial farriery |
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| Having lost a bar shoe, before MRI |
Around this time I became aware of the work of Nic Barker at Rockley Farm on Exmoor. Nic successfully rehabilitates horses with much poorer prognoses than Ruby. It seemed obvious to me that whilst remedial shoeing would help in the short term ultimately Ruby needed to grow a healthier hoof capsule. Despite this, I chose to follow the advice of my equine colleagues at the Vet School and pursue remedial farriery. Ruby had her coffin joints medicated and was shod with bespoke shoes with a rolled edge all the way around. Sadly Ruby had started to become increasingly naughty about loading in the trailer again. Who could blame her, the only trips she took were back and forth to the vet school. She had also started to become anxious when shod and had required intravenous sedation. In turn she was becoming very needle shy.
On December 7th Ruby had her say. Less than 24 hours back out in the field she had removed one of her front shoes. Two days later the other had been cast. That afternoon I removed her hind shoes and we began our barefoot rehab.
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