We’ve all had that heart-dropping moment when you hear a clunk and realise the bottom bolt’s gone over when you’re in the stable. But meet Rags, who’s taken the idea to a whole new level.
While his siblings were off excelling in the show ring, four-year-old Hallslake Ragnar The Fearless, to give him his full title, was busy locking his owner and her friend into the tack room from the outside. The 17.3hh part-bred Clydesdale then wandered happily off to eat grass, leaving the pair stranded.
Sara Pike, one of the unfortunate tack room prisoners with Rags’ owner Abigail Morter, told H&H they had known he could undo bolts – but this was the first time they realised he could also do the reverse.
“We heard it, and it was one of those moments!” Sara said. “We’d shut the door and Abbie said put the clip on so he didn’t open it, which is his latest trick, as we didn’t want it to bang in his face.
“She said ‘Shut the door as he’ll – oh, b*gger it’! We wondered if we could persuade him to change his mind and undo it, but they’re on a track, and free to come and go as they want – and he went.
“His brother Hallslake Nimrod won the side-saddle concours d’elegance at the Royal Welsh, his sister Broadriver Ruby Moon was amateur maxi cob champion at the Royal International – and he was locking us into the tack room!”
The situation was not as dire as it might have been, as Abbie and Sara had tea, strawberry and cream cake made by Sara as the barefoot trimmer was due – and a phone.
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“My son was at home, which is only a mile away, so I rang him and he drove up – wetting himself laughing – to open the door,” Sara said.
But time was tight, as it was a weekday and Sara was due to go to work.
“It was about 20 minutes before I had to be there, and I was panicking!” she said. “But all we could do was sit there and have a cup of tea and a slice of cake. I made it, just!”
Sara said Rags had got into places he shouldn’t have been a few times before they realised he was using his “prehensile” top lip to fiddle with bolts.
“He’s turned it into his party trick, but that was the first time he’d shut a bolt,” she said. “Abbie’s done a fantastic job desensitising him, he’s so relaxed, and utterly beautiful, with such a lovely nature.”
Sara said Abbie’s plan is to back Rags and see what he will turn his hoof to – adding that he scrubs up beautifully.
“I love him so much,” Abbie added. “There’s not a bad bone in his body.”
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Eleanor is an experienced journalist who spent over eight years working for local and national newspapers before joining H&H as news editor in March 2016. Passionate about equine welfare and exposing the truth, Eleanor has reported on all aspects of the industry, from Brexit to anti-bullying campaigns, and from dressage rules to mules. Her sport of choice is showjumping, in which she competes her own horses, and she also enjoys reporting at local jumping shows through to international championships.
