A rider who sustained extensive injuries in a fall just five months ago has returned to competition with victory in her first affiliated dressage test.

Nicola King-Salter was competing at a British Showjumping event in May with her nine-year-old Lauriston mare Lilly Langtrey when a misjudged jump near the end of the British novice course ended in disaster.

“My face took all the impact and I bit my tongue clean in half,” said Nicola, who suffered a partial ‘de-gloving’ of her lower face, as well as fracturing her neck, back and six ribs, and puncturing a lung.

“We didn’t realise how bad my injuries were — I got up and walked to the ambulance. But when I got to the local hospital they took one look at me and said it was a lot worse than we thought.”

Nicola, 48, spent a week in the major trauma unit at Stoke Hospital, praising the care she received there.

“I had to wear a neck brace for six weeks — even in the shower! But I remained quite chipper throughout,” she told H&H.

“I had a full facial tear; the lower half of my face was de-gloved and my lip was torn down to my chin. My tongue had to be stitched back together, but unfortunately my facial injuries have not healed correctly,” added Nicola, who will undergo further surgery next week, as she is still having trouble eating, drinking and speaking.

But on 12 September, Nicola made her return to the ring, winning a prelim at Radfords Equestian, Shropshire, on her British Dressage (BD) debut with Lilly, who was uninjured in the accident.

“Never in a million years did I think this would happen,” said Nicola. “After the accident, my trainer Sarah Warner suggested that I join BD. Dressage has always been my weakest phase and I was very intimidated by the whole thing.

“But through Sarah I met Georgie Hodson, who also suffered a terrible facial injury while eventing nine years ago. That was a wonderful thing to come out of the accident, and she has really helped me — having a facial injury like this is quite unusual and a very personal thing.

Continues below…

Mum’s warning after boy gets hooked up on safety stirrups

The schoolboy had to undergo emergency groin surgery at Birmingham Children’s Hospital

‘It looked like a massacre’: owner’s tack locker warning

The horse broke through the roof of the lorry, smashed windows and wrote off the horse area after climbing on

<a href="https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/horse-hound-subscription-offer-651358" rel="bookmark" name="*HOYS special offer* Half price Horse & Hound subscriptions”>*HOYS special offer* Half price Horse & Hound subscriptions

Take advantage of our sale on Horse & Hound magazine subscriptions today

“After the fall, I considered giving up, but only for one minute. I have to put what happened down to bad luck, although it’s the sort of thing you never think will happen to you.

“My husband Henry has been so supportive — we both work for the local police force, but I needed 24-hour care when I first came home from hospital. The only thing he has said is that I need to wear a body protector and air jacket while riding,” added Nicola, who is now looking forward to eventing next season and continuing with dressage following her surgery.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

ITV racing presenter Chris Hughes and Flat jockey Kieran Shoemark have spoken about their struggles to encourage others to do the same.

The pair have teamed up with Movember, the first official charity partner of QIPCO British Champions Day at Ascot (19 October), to raise awareness of men’s health issues.

Kieran, who has served a suspension from racing following a failed drugs test nearly a year ago, explained how opening up was the turning point for getting his life back.

“I certainly struggled to open up, I kind of didn’t know how to,” he said.

“I spoke to many people because I was forced to. They knew something was up and I didn’t really know myself. Sometimes you can’t even recognise it yourself and other people spot it before you.

“Since I asked for help, I can’t stress how drastically my life has changed beyond mine and anyone’s recognition.”

Chris and Kieran were talking in the Movember Man Van, which will be at Ascot on Saturday offering men’s health advice, free haircuts and shoe shines.

“Kieran and I have had quite different experiences but we both found that opening up and talking about what we were going through was the best thing we could have done,” said Chris, who did a stint on Love Island and is now a presenter on ITV Racing.

“As men we do sometimes feel like we can’t be honest or show our vulnerability but the sooner you open up, the better. Hopefully by sharing our stories we can encourage other men to seek the help they might need.”

Article continues below…

You might also be interested in:

Movember is a charity that aims to challenge the way men’s health is approached and supported.
Prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention are among the areas the charity is addressing.

Since 2003, it has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects globally and is aiming to reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25% by 2030.

“We’re proud to have Movember as the official charity partner of QIPCO British Champions Series and for the Movember Man Van to be on course for QIPCO British Champions Day, helping to raise awareness about the vital work they do tackling the biggest health issues facing men,” said British Champions Series chief executive Rod Street.

“With free haircuts and much more on offer, I hope everyone is able to stop by to enrich what will already be a fantastic day.”

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday

The 2018 Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Heart Awards saw 24 former racehorses, from over 300 nominations, reach the shortlist. Over 3,000 online public votes were counted to pick this year’s 12 finalists in the four categories.

Here are the winners…

Native Caption

This versatile 23-year-old (aka Donald) was triumphant in the 2018 RoR Healthy Heart category for owner Karen Harrison — an award given to the best all-rounder.

Native Caption was trained by Tom Tate, running unsuccessfully in hurdles under Rules before going point-to-pointing.

Cheshire-based Karen was diagnosed with cancer 12 months ago and she describes Donald as her rock, who made her treatment more bearable. Karen has had Donald for 16 years and together they have successfully competed in British Eventing (BE), winning 15 times and placed a further 38 times.

Donald also has British Dressage (BD) points and British Showjumping (BS) prize money under his belt. He has also taught Karen’s partner to ride.

“During my chemotherapy, I felt so ill and was completely bald. My treat before each session was a ride on Donald around the local farm,” said Karen. “He was so good with me, my balance and strength was at an all time low and he always behaved perfectly. I don’t think I will ever find such a versatile horse again — he is my horse of a lifetime.”

Elsie’s Star

The 10-year-old is owned by County Durham-based Helen Corner and was crowned the 2018 RoR Biggest Heart Award winner, which is awarded to the horse that has shown the best temperament.

Elsie’s Star raced once on the Flat in 2010 for trainer Tim Easterby.

Following a riding accident earlier in the year, Helen credits the mare’s calm and trusting nature for rebuilding her confidence in the saddle.

The pair went on to win at the NAF Riding Club national showjumping championships, described as a “dream come true” by Helen.

“Elsie’s Star is loved by everyone who knows her — she lets my 11-year-old daughter ride her,” said Helen. “She has excelled in showjumping, dressage and cross-country and brings home the ribbons. I honestly can’t put into words what she has done for my confidence, I wouldn’t have jumped 70cm before.”

Stilo Blue Native

The eye-catching dappled grey topped the 2018 RoR Heartthrob category for owner Samantha Osborne.

The 10-year-old ran under Rules for trainer Rebecca Menzies and only finished his racing career in summer 2017. His retraining started in 2018 and he qualified for the Aintree novice final at Doncaster on his first outing. He followed this up with multiple red rosettes, including three wins at NCPA Pony of the Year Show (POYS) Championships.

He has become a heartthrob on social media and with the judges, earning him the name “Blunicorn.”

“He has blossomed in the past 12 months going from a severely lean and distant 16.2hh frame to a loving tank, who adores cuddles, grooming and friendship,”said Samantha. “He is beautiful both inside and out, and I couldn’t imagine life without him.”

Danish Blues

The 15-year-old won the 2018 RoR Heart Stopper award, which is given to a horse that has overcome adversity.

“Blue” was brought from a field five years ago and has slowly been nurtured back to full health thanks to his rider Stacey Barr, who loans him.

Described as underweight with abscesses and rain scald, Stacey took time to build and gain his trust before working on his confidence under saddle.

Five years on, Blue and Stacey have qualified for area festivals, the BD Championships, the Thoroughbred Championships and RoR Championships. This year, Blue achieved a second and third at the RoR Championships for both prelim and novice level.

“Blue has grown from rescue to reserve champion — he is an amazing horse with lots of grit,”said Stacey. “He constantly raises the bar to new heights with each new challenge.  He really is a diamond in the rough.”

In his new book, Red Rag To A Bull, author Jamie Blackett arrives home from the Army to take over a small family estate on the Solway Firth in Dumfries and Galloway, and finds a rapidly changing countryside.

In a humorous and occasionally moving tale, he describes the return of the native to grapple with the intricacies of farming, conservation and estate management, telling the story of founding a pack of foxhounds and a herd of pedigree beef cattle. Part childhood memoir, part biopic of rural life, readers are transported to a remote and beautiful part of Scotland and acquainted with its wildlife, its people and its customs.

Set over the first two decades of the 21st Century, through the Scottish independence referendum, Brexit and the hunting ban, the result is an enlightened review of the challenges threatening a vulnerable way of life and an emerging philosophy about the directions Scotland, farming and the countryside might take in the brave new world of Brexit.

In this book extract, Jamie is keenly following his pack of hounds on a day’s hunting, when suddenly, disaster strikes…:

Then from the depths of the wood there comes a single, deep, excited note, and then another. Then a breathless pause and several more as other hounds hit on the scent.

‘They’ve found.’ The field goes quiet as we all strain our ears. Paddy is dancing on his toes now, waiting for the off. We edge closer to Piet, the Field Master, so that we can get away in the first echelon.

The scent must be as good as we dared hope. The woods now echo with a riot of noise that goes first this way then that, as it hurtles around the covert like an express train.

Moments later we see hounds tumbling clumsily out of the wood and then back in again. They appear to be heading uphill onto a long bracken bank.

‘Come on, we’ll get round the other side,’ says Piet, as he kicks his horse into action and we speed towards a gap in the wire fence where there is a solid timber hunt jump. Paddy takes it in his stride and I let him have his head, so that he flattens out rhythmically into a fast canter across the springy turf, and I stand in the stirrups, crouched forward to keep my weight off his back. Above us, still in cover, hound music soars and crashes like the 1812 Overture.

Next comes a wall – a tall, solid, unforgiving Galloway dyke made of granite boulders. I check Paddy so that his hocks come underneath him, and we bounce twice before I let him go two strides out. He clears it by a foot and at the top of our flight, in a burst of exuberance, kicks his hind legs up behind him like Nureyev, so that I am nearly pitched out of the saddle. Our blood is up now, as we race away downhill towards the next fence, a low rail down onto a steep bank of bracken and whins.

We need to do a small, neat jump here, so that we can immediately turn right-handed onto a sheep track that runs along the top of the bank. Battling with Paddy on the run in, I shift my weight from side to side to unbalance him and slow him down, but we are still going too fast. I should circle him away from the jump and come back in at a trot, but I hold him, seemingly motionless, as he pauses, then jumps.

We take off like the 11.30 New York flight from Heathrow and go up, and up. Below us the ground falls away with alarming rapidity. Then we are coming down again and I feel him stumble on landing; his head seems to disappear from in front of me, and I am being scraped over the pommel of the saddle and down his neck. The ground rushes up towards me.

‘Oh God, this is going to hurt.’

Darkness.

‘Is he dead?’

‘I don’t like the look of it, he’s not moving.’

‘Has someone gone to catch the horse?’

‘Yes, Malc’s gone.’

Fragments of conversation come and go as if overheard in the street.

‘He’s got a pulse anyway.’

‘Don’t move him, in case he’s broken his back.’

I can’t tell whether this is a dream or whether it is real, and I just can’t wake up.

‘Can you hear me, my love?’ An angelic voice. ‘Can you open your eyes for me.’

I open my eyes and promptly close them again; the world seems confusing and I want to go back to sleep.

‘Listen, Jamie, I want you to wiggle your toes. Can you do that for me?’

Good idea. I wiggle my toes and nod. Thank God, I am not paralysed.

Gradually I come to and my rescuer, fortuitously an off-duty nurse, says, ‘Just lie still, poppet, the ambulance is on its way.’

Soon Malc appears with Paddy. I start scrambling to my feet.

‘No, you are not getting back on, you were out cold for several minutes. You are going straight to hospital,’ says my rescuer.

‘Well, I might as well ride Paddy then,’ ventures Malc, ‘so at least he doesn’t miss out. Can you pass me his hat?’

I told you the Bells are descended from horse thieves.

‘Might as well pass me his flask as well. They will only confiscate it in hospital. And better have his car keys.’

Shameless! Malc and Paddy set off and I go back to sleep again.

The ambulance crew want to know where my hat is.

‘We would have cut the straps on it if you had it, so that you couldn’t wear it again.’

I nod and think of my mother. In the vanity of youth, I had always hunted in a top hat until I got married and then Mum and Sheri had ganged up and forced me to buy a jockey’s crash hat. Maternal instinct is a wonderful thing; I would be dead had they not done so.

When we arrive at the Dumfries Royal Infirmary, the ward sister wants to know what I have had to eat and drink.

I rack my brains.

‘Porridge at about eight, then a few sausage rolls and a slice of fruitcake at elevenish.’

She nods, ‘And to drink?’

‘A couple of glasses of port at about eleven.’ A slight frown plays across her features. ‘Then just the odd swig after that: bramble whisky, cherry brandy, damson vodka, maybe some sloe gin, that sort of thing.’ She looks concerned and scribbles something down on a clipboard.

I have my brain scanned and then I am put to bed and sleep like the dead. Hours later, Malc comes to pick me up. The same ward sister discharges me.

‘Now you are to go straight home and have a good night’s sleep.’ Then her eyes seem to moisten and a gooey maternal look comes over her. ‘And do try and stay off the alcohol, if you can, dear.’

Price: Red Rag To A Bull can be purchased for £20 from Quiller Publishing. It is also available to buy via Amazon.
Published by: Quiller Publishing, 2018

For all the latest equestrian news and reports, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine out every Thursday

Bespoke hats were stolen from tradestands while the shop owners were sleeping just metres away.

The thefts took place overnight on 21 to 22 June at Dressage at Hickstead’s premier league and dressage masters championships (19-23 June).

Flying Changes Bespoke Jackets & Tailcoats and Tidy Tack Rooms were both targeted.

“It’s very frustrating and disappointing,” said Sarah Cheetham, owner of Flying Changes.

“[The thieves] were very foolish, they’ve taken 20 unique, bespoke hats that are exclusive to us, made up with our own fabrics to match our jackets and tailcoats.”

She added this means they are instantly recognisable if they appear for sale or are worn in competition.

While the dressage competition runs at the same time as the Hickstead Derby meeting, it is at a separate part of the showground and is not under the same organisation or security management as Hickstead Ltd, the All England Jumping Course.

Sarah was sleeping in the lorry behind the trade tent when the crooks cut open the marquee and took the hats.

Among the stolen Charles Owen helmets is the Charlotte Dujardin display hat, which has her Flying Changes tailcoat fabric running through the middle and features red and white piping.

A grey hat with rows of pink crystals on each side of the piping is also among the 20 stolen helmets.

She added the team at Dressage at Hickstead have been “very supportive” and the crime has highlighted a weakness in the security, which they are reviewing.

Article continues below…

You might also be interested in:

Cassie Capsey, owner of Tidy Tackrooms, was also asleep in a tent when thieves cut along the zipper tapes of the marquee to steal 10 Scharf UK helmets from her stand.

“They didn’t touch anything else on the stand,” she told H&H. “They took the protective packaging off the hats and left the boxes.”

She added the hats will not be covered by warranty and all have unique serial numbers on them.

Both marquees were locked at the time of the thefts and the store owners are hoping to raise awareness to make the goods “too hot to handle”.

Dane Rawlins, Dressage at Hickstead organiser, told H&H security will be reviewed.

“We will do our best to do whatever we can,” he said.

He added the team will be looking at improving the CCTV and making changes to the number of patrols on site.

In this week’s Horse & Hound magazine, out on Thursday 28 June 2018, don’t miss our full report from the Hickstead Derby meeting, including all the showjumping and showing action, plus don’t miss our six-page report from Royal Ascot.

We also have a feature on the much discussed whip rules across the disciplines and in this week’s ‘Vet clinic’ we find out how to spot the signs of sand colic.

“If someone had told me last year that in 2018 I’d be winning a four-star grand prix, become double European [young rider] champion, jump at Aachen and then in a jump-off at the Globals, I wouldn’t have believed it!”

So said 19-year-old Harry Charles after a momentous three days competing in the London leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour (GCT). Not only did the talented young showjumper secure several good placings at this five-star show, he made it through to the jump-off for the prestigious grand prix, where he was competing against the likes of Ludger Beerbaum, Peder Fredricson, Michael Whitaker and victor Scott Brash. With just one fence down against the clock, Harry and ABC Quantum Cruise finished a very creditable sixth. Here, he relives this unforgettable experience with H&H.

“I only had about a week and a half’s notice that I was going to London, so that didn’t give us much preparation time,” said Harry. “But luckily my horses were up and running as we’d come off the back of shows at Aachen and Hickstead.

“I didn’t come to the show with high expectations — I’ve never even been to a GCT show, although I do watch the streaming from the shows every Saturday night, studying these big, careful courses,” said Harry. “I thought I might do OK as my horses had been jumping well, but certainly not as good as I ended up.

“The format of the grand prix really suited Quantum Cruise because the more he jumps, the better he gets,” said Harry. “He’s been close at the last two five-star grands prix he’s jumped at, both at Aachen and Hickstead and there I said to my groom, Dan, ‘I think he’s going to jump clear next week [in London]’. I was very happy to be proved right!

“The way he jumped in the grand prix was like nothing I’ve ever felt before,” said Harry. “To qualify for the grand prix was my goal so to jump clear in it was unbelievable. I pretended it was like any other class but in the back of my mind I was going in to a jump-off against Ludger Beerbaum and Scott Brash!

“We all watched Scott’s round as he was first to go in the jump-off and everyone’s jaw just dropped,” said Harry. “I just made a mistake with an extra stride where he faulted [at the penultimate fence], but he exceeded all expectations.

Article continues below…

You might also be interested in:

“He’ll do one more show then he’s going out in the field,” said Harry of the nine-year-old, whom he only started riding at the end of last year, taking over from father Peter. “We know what we’ve got for next year and that’s a proper grand prix horse and possibly one for the ‘super league’ Nations Cups.

“It’s been the year of my life,” summed up Harry.

Don’t miss the full report from the Longines Global Champions Tour of London, including exclusive comment from John Whitaker, in this week’s issue of Horse & Hound, out Thursday 9 August.

As a Cheltenham Gold Cup and dual Champion Chase-winning jockey, Nico de Boinville has been fortunate enough to ride — and win — aboard some of the most eye-catching racehorses, including the Nicky Henderson-trained duo Sprinter Scare and Altior.

But on Sunday (26 August), he swapped a jockey hat for a bowler to be on the judging panel at the Retraining of Racehorses (RoR) Goffs UK National Championships.

A self-proclaimed “amateur judge learning the ropes”, Nico judged the supreme champion alongside his wife, Serena, a Connemara pony breeder, and experienced judge and showing breeder Jonathan Geake.

The trio adjudged 15-year-old former hunter chaser What Of It, ridden by Hannah Horton, as the winner of the coveted supreme champion of the show, to reserve champion Jack The Giant, who was shown in-hand by Clare Poole. Their show ring rivals included the 2016 Gold Cup victor Don Cossack, ridden by Louise Lyons.

“As soon as the horses entered the arena, you could see straight away how much presence What Of It had,” said Nico, whose showing background saw him ride at Horse of the Year Show and the Royal International as a youngster.

“He stood out from the start. We hadn’t seen them stripped beforehand, but his way of going was impressive — he looked exceptional.

“Judging is very subjective, ultimately you are comparing horses to each other and deciding which one you like best,” said Nico.

“There were some lovely horses on the night, but What Of It caught the eye from the start and fortunately all of us on the judging panel agreed!”

Continued below…

For any racehorse, going under the lights in an arena is a totally different environment to what they are used to when in training, but how important is temperament in the show ring?

“Manners are still important, after all it is called the ‘retraining’ of racehorses,” said Nico. “As a judge, you like to see them trained appropriately — particularly when being ridden under saddle. The in-hand veteran Jack The Giant, who was our reserve champion, was certainly showing his enthusiasm of old, but minor things like this can be forgiven I think.

“As a jockey, I ride a lot of different horses and I would not say I have a particular stamp of horse that I favour,” added Nico. “Although, I do like horses with a classy and intelligent head, who have a nice way of going — a horse that is nice to look at!”

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

Caroline Moore, former four-star eventer and British Eventing national under-18 coach and junior team coach, explains how you can use this exercise to develop your horse’s hoof/brain co-ordination

The aims of the exercise are to improve:

• Hoof/brain co-ordination
• Accuracy
• The hind-leg through the transition
• Rider posture
• Preparation

This is an exercise I regularly use when warming up for jumping or I teach it to a young horse to help the elevation in its work and to also improve the hoof/brain co-ordination.

To show you this exercise, I’m using dressage boards to trot over, distanced one metre apart from each other, but you can also use raised poles. Around 10-12m away, I have an area where I’m going to ask the rider to ride a transition, so there is a lot of preparation to work on. We can use the energy created from riding over the dressage boards to help the hind leg with the walk and halt transition. We then move on to some boards out of the exercise again — this is all about the transition forward into trot and gaining balance and rhythm as early as possible to successfully negotiate the second half of the exercise.

You can see with the first horse in the video, who is four-years-old, how this exercise encourages her to use her eye, and you can see that she is raising her toes just enough. This helps improve the core stomach muscles and raising the shoulder, so it’s a great exercise for a young horse — it’s like taking them to the gym.

Then in the downwards transition, you want to get four-five good steps of walk with the horse staying relaxed — it’s important to prepare this transition as early as you possibly can. Then move forward back into the trot and this is where you really have to work at regaining the energy to ride through the second set of boards.

This is a fairly difficult exercise but a really useful one. This exercise also shows how important it is to look where you’re going and stay in symmetry with the horse so that you stay in perfect balance, allowing the horse to soften.

Next we will make a downwards transition to halt, so you will need to do a bit of preparation using some half halts and thinking forward into the transition. Think of riding forward from behind so that you finish the halt off square.

Then you will ask the horse to move forward into the trot and it’s really important to get activity here. This is quite tricky to do because if they’ve halted, they often just relax a little bit, so it’s very important to ride forward here. The poles or the boards afterwards help with this because it focuses the horse on going forward.

Points to be aware of:

• Maintaining rhythm
• Energy levels
• Fatigue
• Praise and reward

More expert training advice from Caroline:

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday.

The birth of a rare zebra at a British zoo has been described as a “miracle” by staff and academics.

The healthy filly is the only surviving Hartmann’s mountain zebra female foal to be born in the UK since 2002.

She is also the sole healthy foal of either gender to be survive since her brother Jabali was born in 2015.

The filly, named Wakanda after a fictional country in the Marvel comics, was born overnight at Blackpool Zoo on 5 September.

Her arrival is crucial to the European Endangered Species Breeding Programme as there are only 9,000 individuals left in the wild and 235 in captivity. Of these, 11 are housed in four zoos across the UK.

Her dam Helene and sire Fernado are the most established breeding pair in the country.

Assistant head keeper Johnpaul Houston discovered the newborn foal when he arrived for work on 6 September.

“We knew Helene was pregnant but with stillbirth rates high in this species we never quite know if the pregnancy will result in a healthy foal,” he said.

“So imagine my joy when I first saw this gorgeous little one contently feeding from Mum on a rainy September morning.

“Of course, once we established that the youngster was healthy the wait was on to see if we had a girl or boy and it wasn’t long before we could confirm the news we had all been waiting for — a baby girl!”

He added Helene is an experienced mother and is doing an “incredible job” of looking after the filly.

Article continues below…

You might also be interested in:

“[Wakanda] is a massive cause for celebration as she is the only surviving female foal born in the UK since 2002,” said Mr Houston.

“After a fantastic summer here at Blackpool Zoo this momentous birth means we have all ended the season on a huge high.”

Hartmann’s mountain zebras are native to Namibia and are most commonly found in the Kunene region in the northwest of the country, which experiences harsh environmental conditions.

Studies indicate that numbers could decline by more than 10% in the next 25 years due to increased hunting and loss of habitat to agriculture.

For all the latest news analysis, competition reports, interviews, features and much more, don’t miss Horse & Hound magazine, on sale every Thursday