Bryan - jumping at Hickstead!

Just came in to give the poor tractor a break - grinding away in the sun on our steep fields is not a recipe for a happy tractor - and found this from Charlotte!

Last week  - in rather different weather from what we have now(!) was the Royal International Horse Show at Hickstead and guess who jumped a clear round? Our very own ex-rehab horse, Big Barefoot Bryan... 

Doesn't he look fantastic? Apparently he had a ball and LOVED it! He was jumping a slightly smaller class than last year as he is still learning all about jumping without studs but he is seriously back on form.

Amazingly, it is less than 6 months since he came here for rehab following a diagnosis of collateral ligament injury, navicular bone damage and pedal osteitis. Its totally thanks to Charlotte's determination that he came to us, and both Bryan and Charlotte have done us proud!

There was a priceless comment overheard as they came out of the ring: "The ground must be REALLY bad - that poor horse has lost all his shoes!"...

As all rehab owners know, it takes serious hard work and masses of commitment to have a barefoot performance horse but I think both Charlotte and Bryan feel all the hours of effort are paying off :-)

Kudos to the pair of them, and a happy twist to a rather stressful day at Rockley(!) - we are nearly there on the haylage but there is many a slip...so keep fingers crossed for us, please!