Spooked colt sustains fatal injury during fireworks display
An “exceptional” foal has died after being frightened by a nearby fireworks display.
Pat Ormond, owner of College View Stud, lost his four-month-old colt on 28 August.
The youngster was spooked by a fireworks display the previous evening at a neighbouring property.
College View Chrome suffered fractured vertebrae and was put down to end his suffering.
“The horses were going insane,” Mr Ormond told H&H.
“We discovered Chrome had been injured in the field at 11.10pm.
“He couldn’t walk — I thought it was a broken shoulder but it turned out to be a fractured vertebrae.”
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Mr Ormond’s vet was called out and they tried to stabalise the colt.
“He was made comfortable with painkillers and I stayed with him in the field to give him a chance,” said Mr Ormond.
“At around 6am we had to make a call and we put him to sleep.
“I was on my knees with him all night looking into his eyes and I pulled that foal into the world. It’s devastating.”
College View stud breeds performance horses and Chrome was of the Champion du Lys dam line.
“He was such a beautiful little lad,” said Mr Ormond.
“He was a good mover, athletic and had a great attitude. He could have been a breeding stallion or a high-level competition horse.
“He was exceptional and we were so proud of him.”
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No other horses were seriously injured, but Mr Ormond is concerned about the unborn foals.
“The real worry now is that we have five mares who are in foal and now we have to rescan to see if their foals are ok,” he added.
“I’ve been putting it off because I don’t think I could take any more [if I found out we’d lost them].”
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Rachael joined Horse & Hound in 2014, initially as a digital sub editor then became part of the news team as a writer in 2015. The philosophy graduate studied journalism at the Press Association before working as a local reporter at the Brentwood Gazette. Rachael is now a mum of two and still loves all things equestrian, including hacking, dressage and jumping with her cob Bert. Rachael left the H&H staff to go freelance in June 2019, but still contributes to our magazine and website, as well as our sister magazine Country Life, among others.