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Cooley Iceage has returned to work following a period of time off with a knee injury incurred while cross-country schooling
One of Britain’s most promising young event horses, Cooley Iceage, is back jumping at home, following a period of rehabilitation after he incurred a serious knee injury at the beginning of July.
The eight-year-old grey – ridden by Laura Collett and owned by Diana Chappell, Gillian Morris-Adams, Teresa Stopford Sackville and Carolyn Taylor – stumbled after jumping a log into water while cross-country schooling.
“It was just one of those really unfortunate accidents that ended up being quite dramatic,” Laura told H&H.
Cooley Iceage – known as Diego at home – cut his knee badly and spent 12 days at Donnington Grove Equine Vets.
“They had to have two goes at getting the gravel out, but luckily he didn’t get a joint infection,” said Laura. “He had about 12 weeks off in total, with a lot of bandage changes and TLC.”
Cooley Iceage has now started jumping again at home.
“All looks good and it’s nice to have him back. He’s a lovely horse, and while it’s frustrating because no one wants to miss half a season, actually to be honest, he seems to have strengthened up physically for the break, so in the long run it’s done him no harm,” said Laura.
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“Fingers cross it looks like there are no ill effects of the injury so hopefully he’ll carry on that way.”
The horse won the seven-year-old national championship at Cornbury in 2025 and this year had been second in two open intermediates and third in the CCI3*-L at Bicton in May before the injury cut his season short.
“We were going to see how he was feeling and potentially step him up to advanced. He wouldn’t have done a four-star long this year but he might have been ready for Blenheim’s eight- and nine-year-old four-star short – hopefully he can do that next year instead,” said Laura.
Cooley Iceage will now stay in work through the winter and prepare for next season, though Laura said he may have a couple of weeks off at some stage “for a bit of a mini break”.
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.