1. A top rider out of action
Double Badminton Horse Trials winner Mary King has been stood down from competition for three weeks after a fall at Dauntsey Horse Trials last Friday (28 July). Mary reported that she fell off when five-year-old King Patrick spooked cantering across a field between fences, approaching a dark wooded area. “Gravity took control and won!” said Mary. “All fine except I knocked my head so am not allowed to event for three weeks.” Mary had been due to compete at Aston-le-Walls next week.
Find out who will be stepping in for Mary
2. A farewell to an ‘excellent horseman’
Billy Walkinghsaw, the former huntsman to the Mid Antrim hunt in Northern Ireland, died on 26 June aged 92. He took up the post of huntsman in 1959 having carried first whip to his father at the Iveagh Foxhounds and the County Down Staghounds. Mr Walkingshaw was known for his passion for hunting and his hounds; “a formidable horseman across some of the most trappy country in Ireland and giving a good day’s sport to both young and old”.
3. A vet’s shocking find
A vet who was investigating a Shire’s uterine problems was shocked to find an old Fanta can embedded within the mare. The RSPCA is appealing for information as it tries to find out what happened to the mare while she was being kept in the Biddulph area of north Staffordshire about two years ago. The mare has been rehomed since, and her previous owners are under no suspicion, but it is thought the mare “may have been interfered with while she was staying at a yard they were using at the time”.
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