Show hack dies in freak crash
A county show winner has died and another horse killed after the pair crashed into each other in their paddock.
Owner Michelle Lomas turned out Kavanaghs Royal Fanfare (Leo) on 3 May, and watched as he and his field companion, Jack, galloped happily towards each other, which led to disaster.
“They collided, stumbled over one another and rolled on the ground,” said Michelle. “I thought they were both dead.”
Jack — Beverley Mayall’s four-year-old Fell pony whom Michelle was due to start competing this season — died instantly.
But although the eight-year-old Leo did get back on his feet, he had broken a leg and had to be put down.
“The vet couldn’t believe it,” said Michelle. “He’d seen horses collide before, but never with that result. It wasn’t slippery, it wasn’t their first turn-out — they had been going out every day.
“I was getting excited about him going to Royal International this year, but now those dreams are over.”
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Michelle bought the 15hh as a £3,000 yearling from breeder Xanthe Barker-Wild. He was by Starlyte Royal Fanfare out of 2000 Horse of the Year Show pony champion Kavanaghs Dream.
The pair went to the Royal International in 2012 and finished 5th in the amateur hack class.
Leo had since been campaigned by Leigh Anne McNamee Sloggett and Leigh Dale, standing champion in both his classes at the North of England Show last month (report, 24 April).
First published in the Horse & Hound on 15 May 2014.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.