The week that was: seven days in the horse world
Jonty Evans has secured the ride on his Rio Olympic horse, Cooley Rorkes Drift, after raising £500,000 through an extraordinarily successful crowd-funding campaign.
“I’m lost for words and so, so grateful to everyone who donated,” Jonty told H&H tearfully.
Police are investigating a “horrific incident” involving a number of road collisions after 21 army horses were released from their field on Friday night (4 August).
The horses were let out of the field, part of the Defence Animal Training Centre in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, at about 11.15pm.
British showjumper John Whitaker says he is feeling “OK — still a bit sore” after his fall at the Longines Global Champions Tour of London on Saturday (5 August).
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John hit the deck when the nine-year-old Cassinis Chaplin stopped at a midway vertical in the first round of the grand prix.
‘I’m stiff, in the wrong places!’
Trainers and stable staff have been warned of the dangers of urinating in stables, after a horse tested positive for a painkiller taken by her stable lad.
A sample taken from three-year-old Wotadoll after a race at Wolverhampton on 12 November 2016 was found to contain banned substance o-desmethyltramadol, a metabolite of human painkiller tramadol.
There will be no British showjumping team at the 2017 European Championships (22-27 August), as the team focus is instead on the Nations Cup series.
Just two individuals, Michael Whitaker on his wife Melissa’s Viking and William Whitaker on Ludwig Criel’s Utamaro D’Ecaussines, will represent Britain in Gothenburg.
Read about this ‘unusual decision’…
“And now it’s down to Camilla to do her thing” — a vague brief if ever there was one, but for Game of Thrones’ master of horse it seems the sky is the limit.
A behind the scenes video from the making of the “loot train attack”, shown on this week’s episode, reveals how the amazing entrance of the Dothraki hordes standing on their galloping horses was created.
After a number of calls from members of the public concerned about a “dead horse” they had spotted lying in a field, RSPCA officers leapt into action this week.
An inspector visited the field in question, off Gain Lane, Bradford, on Monday (7 August) but could find nothing.
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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.