British showjumper Harry Charles has given a positive update on his top horse Borsato after he went lame during Saturday night’s speed class at the London International Horse Show and was led out of the arena.
The 16-year-old gelding, with whom Harry won last year’s grand prix at the show, is believed to have struck into himself while jumping in the Longines Christmas cracker class and is now undergoing further treatment from the Charles family’s team of vets. But the prognosis is good, Harry told H&H today (20 December).
“We’re pretty happy with how he’s been – there’s certainly been a big improvement from that night when he was very sore,” said Harry, who immediately dismounted and led Borsato out of the ring, where he was quickly attended to. “My heart definitely stopped for a moment.”
“He does some funny things sometimes, but I knew that wasn’t right,” added Harry.
Harry Charles on Borsato: ‘He’s never taken a lame step in his life’
“I think the initial injury was more of a sting – he had his boots on and you could see where he had gone into the back of it,” he said. “He was hand-walked a bit while he remained in London and he’s not lame when he’s walking any more – he actually jumped on to the truck to go home last night and he’s back home now in his big straw pen. We’ve got some vets looking over him this afternoon but hopefully he’s on the road to recovery and it shouldn’t be too long at all, we don’t think.”
“It was just one of those things, an accident – we’ve had him for four years and he’s never taken a lame step in his life, and as a team we’ve been very lucky and not had many injuries over the past few years,” added Harry. “So it was a bit of a shock for us as well.”
The Contendro gelding was due a lengthy holiday anyway after another successful year on the international circuit, so the team will be allowing Borsato all the time he needs to recover, and Harry hopes we may see the pair back in action on home soil in the spring.
“He’s a bit older now so we always try to give him four to five months off at this time of year – he’s had another great year, so we’ll take our time but hopefully you’ll see him at Royal Windsor,” he said.
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