‘All horses can shine’: meet the ‘miracle’ dressage cob who defied the odds to succeed after a host of veterinary issues
The owner of a cob whose dam was saved from slaughter, and who survived a complex multitude of veterinary ailments before he started his ridden career, hopes his dressage success will show other owners what can be possible.
Rebecca Duke bought Mr Finn as a three-year-old and within a few years, he had been diagnosed with arthritis, bony changes to the spine, respiratory issues, PSSM and ulcers. She was advised by a vet that putting him down might be the best option.
In 2023, Mr Finn and Rebecca started competing with British Dressage (BD); they have since been placed at the summer Area Festivals and won up to novice level.
Rebecca told H&H she wanted to sing the praises of “my little miracle cob who despite all his hinderings comes back to the white boards feeling better than ever”.
“All horses can shine through dressage; the unlikely ones, all breeds and even the ones who are a little broken,” she said. “I love the phrase ‘dressage for horses, not horses for dressage’, as I believe it truly helps them physically and mentally.”
Rebecca said Finn’s arrival was a surprise to his first owner, who had saved his dam from slaughter in Ireland. She saw him advertised at a younger age but it was “not the right time” for her to buy. But when he was advertised again later, she took the chance to secure him.
“Even when I bought him, a lot of people said ‘Why have you bought him? The way he looks, he’s a recipe for disaster’,” said Rebecca, adding that Finn does not have the best conformation. “But I’d always wanted a black horse with four white socks! And my other horse was going through rehab, so I thought he could be a bit of a project. I knew he needed some TLC so I could put a bit of time into him while my mare needed a quieter life.”
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But the problems came “thick and fast”, Rebecca said; the arthritis was diagnosed first in his stifles and hocks, followed by everything else.
“It was rehab after rehab,” Rebecca said. “There was a vet in the beginning who, when it all come out, all the things he had wrong with him, she said ‘You’re going to be lucky if he can be a happy hacker, and honestly, I’d consider putting him to sleep’. But I’d just lost my mare, and I said ‘No, I can’t lose him as well. I’m going to try to do everything’, despite everything that was against us.”
Rebecca said it was a struggle at first, so she did her research, and turned to a more classical approach.
“I started learning a lot through Horses Inside Out and about biomechanics of how the horse moves and everything, and I learned a lot from Heather Moffett,” she said. “I just got lots of things in my toolbox to keep him well, and now I just always work him in a ‘prehab’ sort of way; stretchy work, slow work, polework, competition – I really mix it up for him, and I think the slow prehab-based work is what’s helped him the most.”
Rebecca still approaches all Mr Finn’s work in this “prehab” frame of mind; work that builds the correct strength and musculature to keep him sound and comfortable and make any further issues less likely.
He is also carefully managed owing to the PSSM (polysaccharide storage myopathy), which means horses have abnormal accumulation of glycogen, the form of sugar stored in muscle. This can cause muscle stiffness and pain, but Rebecca sought advice from a nutritionist and changed his diet and management routine to keep him comfortable.
And once he was, she considered competition.
“I’d just done unaffiliated before; and I’d never really had the opportunity, because I had a string of broken horses, who would get to the point where they were under saddle and then something would happen, and I just never got to do it, so it was a bit of a dream come true to get to do it with Finn,” she said.
“We affiliated and there I was, on this little cob, tootling around thinking ‘I don’t know if I belong’. But the first time out he came second, with nearly 70%. I think we did our first Petplan [Area Festivals] at prelim and the next year we did freestyle novice and came third.
“Even if you don’t feel ready, whatever horse you’ve got, you can do it. After the first few outings, I realised he was really good and we really enjoyed it.”
Rebecca said she hopes others who have had similar situations with horses will take some inspiration from Finn’s journey.
“It’s disheartening, isn’t it?” she said. “Just a little thing, like being able to ride them; it’s why a lot of us got into it, we have a passion for horses, we enjoy riding or having them as pets, but when they’re poorly all the time, it just makes you question your life choices.
“I often get emotional about it, I have to pinch myself. I had the vet to check him the other day just to make sure he’s all right, given all his issues. And she said he’d pass a vetting, he’s the best he’s ever looked.”
Rebecca pointed out that dressage came about as a result of the correct training of a horse to make him be the best he can, and she believes Finn is testament to this.
“I’m going to aim for the Petplans again in January,” she said. “We’ve stuck at novice for a while now, but considering he’s doing really well, and he’s starting to do some advanced movements at home without any struggle, so I might just try an elementary and see where we go from there. I’m not in it for winning, it’s more the enjoyment, and he comes alive when he goes in the white boards. He loves it, especially to the music, so it’s just about keeping that variety in his life.”
Rebecca described Finn as “not your typical dressage horse”.
“The way he’s built; he’s so downhill and croup-high, he’s like a horse of two halves,” she said. “But it’s not mattered, he’s done really well despite everything. I hope our story can inspire others to go to BD whatever breed you have and not to let diagnosis hold you back.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.