A £1 former eventer who once needed three fire crews to help him get to his feet as he was so weak – with a vet on standby to put him down – is now well and happy and preparing for a new career in showing.
Leanne Iles was on the same yard as Henry, who had been loaned by his owner who lived abroad to another rider, but ended up, she said, being handed over to the yard owner last winter.
“He was very skinny and covered in scabs from rain rot,” Leanne told H&H. “I bought him for £1 and started looking after him.”
But shortly afterwards, Henry went down and was too weak to get to his feet.
“We had to get the fire brigade, and the vet who said she’d be on standby to come back and put him down if the fire crews couldn’t get him up,” she said. “Thankfully, he did. We moved him and he’s been under vet care. It’s been a long road but now he’s healthy and coming back into ridden work.”
Henry has also recovered from the pressure sore on his withers, and has “come on leaps and bounds”.
“It’s taken a long time for him to settle; he would walk in circles in his stable and was very unhappy the first time we put him out,” Leanne said. “It really affected him mentally but he is a lovely, lovely horse. Before, you’d go in to groom him and he’d be waiting for pain but now he reaches round to you and wants fuss. He trusts us now.”
Leanne said it was thought Henry had less than a 50% chance of survival.
“Even the vet was surprised; he’s a survivor,” she said.
Leanne’s daughter Elisha is hoping to show Henry this year at the David Broome Event Centre.
“It’s not the ending of his story but it’s such a nice ending to this horrible story,” she said. “ It’s Henry’s story and it was his want to keep going; even though he couldn’t get up that day, he never stopped trying.”
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