Cold shower for event rider Hannah Bucknell and Woodlands Talisman

The recent cold snap has caused chaos for horse sport across the country including the cancellation of hunts, point-to-points and National Hunt racing.

But event rider Hannah Bucknell from Berkshire and her horse Woodlands Talisman have also had a cold shock due to the weather.

At the weekend 22-year-old Hannah went to check her horse Woodlands Talisman only to find him virtually swimming around his stable due to a burst pipe.

Hannah has been short-listed for young rider teams and competed as an individual on the junior squad with Woodlands Talisman in 2004.

Hannah told H&H: “I went down to the stables about 10.30am and there was water spraying out of the gutter above Tali’s stable, which I thought was a bit unusual. And when I went in I found him cowering in the corner with water pouring into his stable!

“He has an automatic waterer, and the water had obviously frozen and then melted, causing the pipe to burst — so he basically had a hose pouring into his stable, flooding the place.

“I was by myself so I grabbed the hose and dragged it into the yard and was running round trying to work out how to switch off the water until my brother could come down and help.

“Luckily I managed to make it stop and then evacuate Tali — who is now needing some TLC to recover from the shock!”

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