Trevor Breen’s ride Master Daragh has been put down following ongoing injury complications.
The tough decision was made by the Irish rider and his parents-in-law Heather and Ian Black, who owned the 10-year-old gelding known as ‘Buzz’.
Trevor found the Irish-bred gelding as a seven-year-old.
The son of Master Imp, who jumped at CSI5* shows with Trevor, had not been seen on the showjumping circuit since 2014, due to a serious tendon injury.
“I have a feeling he picked up the injury at the back end of 2013 during a grid work session, when he landed awkwardly, but I can’t be sure,” Trevor told H&H.
“At the time, the vets and physio couldn’t find anything wrong him, but he just wasn’t jumping the same. He started losing about 10cm of scope, having fences down and sometimes taking off a stride early.
“At Vilamoura in 2014 I knew he wasn’t the same horse I had ridden five months ago — he wasn’t lame, but I knew he was a better horse than that. I came home determined to find out what the problem was because I knew there was one.”
The gelding was admitted to Newmarket Equine Hospital where it was discovered he had a 6cm vertical tear in a front tendon.
“Afterwards he went in the field and we spent a year trying to get him back. But the leg just got worse in the field because he was too active. He was never going to make it back jumping. He was a sharp horse so we couldn’t have sold him as a happy hack,” added Trevor.
“We struggled with the call because he was a nice horse, but it was the best decision for him. There was no point putting him through a hard winter in the field and then deciding to put him down next summer.”
