READER STORY
ZORRO by Hilary Boughton, Herefordshire
urgent search forareplacement began. My main aims were to find my dreamriding horse and to help ahorse in need. By offering ahome to arescue horse Iwould be helping two horses–the one Irehomed, and the next horse that would be able to fill the vacatedspace in the rescuecentre. Iapplied to the RSPCA with alistofpreferences -around 16hh, easy to handle,and aforwardgoing hack with a trainable temperament. My requirementswere ahuge expectation of arescue charityand I wasnot expecting to hear from the RSPCA. To my surprise,I wasoffered the opportunitytoviewa16.1hh, 8-year old, French Standardbred gelding called Zorro. He wasanex-harness racerand hadbeenridden foraboutamonth during his time with the RSPCA. Although he had only juststarted his ridden career,hewas awell-mannered ride and seemed keen to
please.Assoon as Isat on him, IknewIhad found my horse! Research intoZorro’sbackground revealed
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that he had wona10,000 Eurotrotting race in Paris as a3-year old and continued as a regular winner in Ireland until 2016. He was sold out of the harness racing industry and found himself in abad home,where,along with another retiredtrotter,hewas neglected and became severely emaciated. His fur was matted, he wasfull of worms, and he had an untreatedsheath
injury.Fortunately,the RSPCA found both the horsesintime and, following a prosecution, theyweresuccessfully rehabilitated. Zorroisawonderful gentleman; he is highly intelligent and learns quickly and is
hen my lovely 22-year old Irish Sports Horse mare, Twinkle,diedsuddenly andunexpectedly,the
forrescue horses, as well as forthe ridden potential of ex-harness racers; atype that tends to be overlooked as ariding horse.I hope that Zorromay inspireriderstoconsider giving ahome to arescue horse,and perhaps to choose atype that is often ignored but that has agreat deal to offer.I have found my dreamhorse –yoursmay be waiting foryou!
(Photocourtesyofthe RSPCA)
apleasuretohaveaspart of my family. We startedbasic training with eventrider,
Samantha BrownfromSouth Herefordshire, and were making good progress, though this wasput on hold due to the national restrictions of 2020. Ichose the RSPCAoverother charities
because Iwanted to ownthe horse myself, rather than have one on loan. In contrastto other charities, following asuccessful six-month probation period, the horse is signed overinto your ownership and it is hoped that the horse will remain with youpermanently.Ifthe horse is not suitable,you areable to return it during the first six months –abig advantage over buying ahorse wherethereisusually little or no trial period. The donation feeismuch less than anormal purchase priceand is asmall contribution towards the huge cost of vet bills, specialistcare, and, in some instances, legal action againstcrueltyorneglect. It is difficult to believe that akind, loving,
gentle and talented horse likeZorrocould end up as arescue case.Heisadmired and lovedbyeveryone and is agreat ambassador
EDITORS COMMENT
Lookingforyournewequinepartner? CheckouttheRSPCArehoming
programmeatwww.rspca.org. uk/findapet/rehomeahorse
Please mention CentralHorseNewswhenresponding toAdvertisementsWINTERSPECIAL2020 45
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