1. Get well soon Ludger Beerbaum
Showjumping legend Ludger Beerbaum is recovering in hospital after surgery on his thigh. He broke his leg in a fall from Christians Carado on 4 March while competing in a 1.45m class at the Global Champions Tour (GCT) in Doha (2-4 March). The good news is that the operation to insert stabilising plates and screws into his leg went well, and we look forward to seeing Ludger back in the saddle after having made a full recovery from his injury.
2. Move over Harry Potter
We love seven-year-old Tamara Bremner-Martin’s choice to dress up as Charlotte Dujardin for World Book Day. Tamara wore her own jacket, white jodhpurs and boots to Yattendon Primary School. The medals round her neck were those she has won, including one from the British Riding Clubs dressage championship last year, and she took along her copy of Charlotte’s autobiography The Girl on the Dancing Horse.
Find out why Tamara chose Charlotte
3. Recovery from acute laminitis
Few horses or ponies come back from four rotated pedal bones following the sudden onset of laminitis, but Friars Gold Fever – aka Flash – is living proof that in some cases, it can be done. The Welsh Section A was struck by acute laminitis two years ago. Now rising 19, he’s fit and well, goes out for full days’ hunting with Alex Aungier’s daughter Gracie, and is “like a four-year-old”.
“With laminitis you have to have deep pockets, time and patience,” said Alex. “It takes a year for the foot to grow out, and even when they look sound, don’t take things too quickly. Throughout the whole thing, there was never a point I thought Flash had had enough; it was more a ‘Help me’ than ‘I’m done, Mum’. We are over the moon. He’s my boy and he’s never leaving us.”
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