The owner of a mare who broke her leg then developed a major bone infection she was not expected to survive said he is “blessed” still to have her – and he “cried like a baby” when she won the 1.25m Showground Photography 1.25m final at the Welsh Masters.
Darren Smith’s VDL Touch of Class and Robert Skyrme triumphed in a strong field at the David Broome Event Centre on 19 April, nearly 20 months after “Katie” was injured by a kick in the field.
Darren was at the show in his role as the event paramedic, as well as watching his much-loved mare excel doing what she loves best.
“It’s not about results for me,” Darren told H&H. “But when they do come, and after the 18 months we’ve had, it’s very, very nice.”
Darren bought the then seven-year-old mare for his partner Pip, four years ago.
“When she came to us, she was quite wild and not very rideable,” he said. “It took quite a few months to get her trust, but we made a breakthrough and she gave herself to me, and we’ve gone on from there.”
Catch ride
The ride came to Rob, Darren explained, by chance.
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“We were let down by our original rider, at Broomes’, and Rob had just come out of the ring after winning the discovery,” Darren said. “I said to Pip, ‘We need to find someone; she’s in the ring in 40 minutes’.
“So she went round the stables and collecting rings, asking, and bumped into Rob. He said ‘Yes, I’ll have a sit on her’. They had 20 minutes in the warm-up – most on two legs! – and then went and came seventh in the newcomers. And it’s gone on from there.”
Rob and Katie went from strength to strength, coming seventh in the discovery final at the British Showjumping National Championships in August 2024, a few weeks before Katie was injured.
“One of the liveries here took some treats down to catch her horse, and it kicked Katie in the side of her front leg,” Darren said. “But she only had a tiny little cut, by her splint bone, and she cantered off.
“We went back to wash it off and she was fine, sound; cantered off again. The following morning, she cantered up to the gate, I took her to the yard to hose the leg; just to keep it clean, there was no swelling.
“Even when the vet came, she said she wouldn’t waste our money by X-raying, she’d just treat the cut, but Pip said ‘I want you to X ray because she’s done something; I know that sound’.”
Box rest
The X-ray revealed two fractures in a Y-shape, so Katie was put on box rest.
Darren said: “Pip was changing the massive bandages every other day; I can’t touch cotton wool as I’ve got a phobia of it; we use gauze now [in the ambulance service] as cotton wool sticks to the cuts so they got rid of it, which was one of the best days of my life!”
But four weeks into the box rest, the routine X-rays showed a massive bone infection.
“It was bigger than a 50p piece, which, for a bone infection, is massive,” Darren said. “Our vet gave her a 30% chance of survival. It was a case of trying to find something we could try, because I didn’t want to give up on her. Laura, the vet, said there was an old farmers’ remedy, potassium iodide to treat poultry bone infections, so I went on Amazon and bought 100 tablets for £6.99. We also gave her rose hips from our bushes on the gallops, and with that and antibiotics, within three weeks, the infection was completely gone; the vet couldn’t believe it.”
Katie was later allowed to walk out in hand, “which lasted for one five-minute session!” But Darren and Pip persevered, and the mare was then turned back out for gradually increasing periods. Darren said he was concerned about whether jumping her again could be a risk, but “The vet told me that would be the strongest leg of the four”.
Katie and Rob were placed at their first show back, last November, then went on to qualify for two finals at the Blue Chip Showjumping Championships; they finished seventh in the Blue Chip Dynamic grades B and C championship and jumped clear but with time faults in the 1.25m final. Their next outing was the Welsh Masters, which culminated in the 1.25m win.
“She’s sounder than me!”
Rob praised Darren and Pip’s determination and hard work in getting Katie back to where she is – but he has also had a journey back to fitness.
“Last July at Bicton I had a rotational fall on a young horse in the warm-up and broke my foot,” he told H&H. “It needed 17 pins and plates so I was off for quite a while.
“She’s a bit more sound than me, I wouldn’t pass the vet! For us to both come back and win is really special.”
Darren said it was a very competitive jump-off at the Welsh Masters, but there was one turn back to a double that no one had pulled off.
“I said to Darren “Do you want me to go clear and get a place or do you want to try it?’” he said “He said ‘we’re here, we might as well have a look’, so we turned her up to the double. She’s the bravest horse I’ve sat on, not the biggest stride but as long as you get her there, she’s going.
“We were just really gelling and stepping up when she was injured; it was really gutting, but she’s come back like she’s never been away. It’s handy Darren is one of the paramedics; I always try to do a good job so I can get special treatment if I do need him! I’m so grateful for the ride, she’s a superstar and she’s his world, so for him to trust me – she’s a really special mare.”
Darren described Katie as “very loving – but very sassy”.
“I can do anything at all with her,” he said. “She’s like a puppy for me, I can walk around the yard and she’ll follow me like a dog, but her and Pip don’t get on at all. She’ll stand in between us and won’t let her by me, but Rob loves riding her, he’s a beautiful rider with really soft hands and he’s got a lovely bond with her. They’re just getting better and better.
“She owes us nothing”
“Watching her win that class – I cried like a baby. She is my baby; Pip says ‘You love that horse more than me’, and I say ‘Sometimes I do!’ We’ll never regain what we spent on her leg but she owes us nothing.
“Sunday was very, very nice. It was a fantastic standard of jumping; Keith Shore came second, he’s a good friend and you don’t get many words out of him but he came up and shook my hand and said ‘I’m really chuffed for you’. Little things like that; we turn up in our 3.5t box, which we borrow, with a mare tiny compared to everyone else but she’s got the heart of a lion, and that’s all you can ask.”
Darren added that he has had many messages from people in the horse world, all delighted to see Katie back.
“David and Liz Broome came back out of the house to watch as well, and David said ‘That’s lovely, mate’,” he said. “He said people see me emotional by the ring but they don’t know the story, and they should.
“They say when a mare gives you her heart, she’ll go through hell on earth for you. She has, and I’m very blessed to have her, let alone be back out jumping.”
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.
