READER STORY


MARSHAL’S STORY By Mellissa Shepherd


M


arshal’sStory has many sides. My daughter worked forhis


trainer; he had been through many


trainerswhen he arrived there, each giving up with him as he removedevery jockey with ease. In his lastracehepulled up with anosebleed and that wasitfor him. Imet him overhis door when my daughter


pleaded with me to take him. He put his kind soft face intomychest,and Ifelt all his pain and worries. He pushed intomeand that wasitfor me.Home he came. At this point our story splits. We arepart of


the KnightsTemplar GreatBritain and areinthe processofstarting ProjectDignity. This involves taking ex-soldiersoff the streets, giving them accommodation, therapywith my horses,moving them intowork on our local farms and then ultimately intotheir ownaccommodation. This projectisinassociation with our local council and will be pushed out nationwide onceupand running. Nowmanypeople do not understand the


connection between horsesand ex-service men but read Marshal’sstory from another perspective.


THE EX-RACEHORSE AND


THE SOLDIER •Broken •Damaged •Hard-work •LostCause •Useless •Unwanted •Waste of time


•Nofuture •Not worth the bother


HEARD THESE WORDS


BEFORE? WE HAVE TOO! Ex Racehorses and Ex-Soldiersare notso different. Their needs arenot so different: •Understanding •Time •Space •Learning to be themselves again.


WHIRL ME AROUND


(MARSHAL) This is the classic story.Born to race,born to run, worth afortune.Ended on the scrap heap waiting forthe end. Marshal wasborn to race,good breeding,


born in agood stud, startedwith the best of everything. As a2-year-old he had apromising career in front of him. He wona£50,000 race. He wanted fornothing, good food, good training and the best of care,then he wassenttoDubai. Something happened out there, and he was


returned to England achanged horse.This happenshereto. Nowone yard after another movedhim on.


Classed as toodangerous to ride as he removed everyjockey in quick succession. He put up a constant fight. Different trainerstried different methods -some harsh some soft. Some justput him on the walker and gave up till the next sale. If theycould get him to the stalls he then


learnt to stand up and turn overbackwards removing his jockey that way. No one listenedtohim. He wasgood once, so


he should be good now. Nowheissoconfused, in his lastracehehad anosebleed and pulled himself up. His owners didn’twant him anymore, his


trainershad no moreideas. So that wasthe end forhim. Classed as dangerous, he had no future forbeing rehomed.The end wasnear. Heardthis story beforebut about asoldier,


lead agood life, has the best training etcthen sent away.Whattheysee and experience, changesthemforever.Not so different from


34 FEBRUARY/MARCH2021


Marshal and manyother racehorses. The solider returns home,confused, shell


shocked, the horrorshesaw haunt him. He doesn’twant to go out, he fightseverything that resemblesthe horrorsorbrings back memories. No one understands, theykeeppushing him. He explodesand runs. No future, No help. The racehorse and the soldier.... not so


different. Marshal came to us, unsure, lame,stiff,would


not leavehis stable,had no ideahow to grazein a field, no idea howtomix with other horses. no ideahow to be ahorse. What did we do,wegavehim time,weoffered


thehand of kindness,welistenedand we used otherslikehim to teach himhow to be ahorse. It took days to get him to go leavehis stable,


then he would not lead. Anythought of leaving his newfriends made him panic. He would reverse, rear,refuse to move,anything but not leavehis comfort zone. Thenhewas poorly, acaseofcolic and the vet


called. An abscessinboth front feet, meant he wasinpain and could barely walk, but we took our time and healed his outside wounds. Then we tried walking him, just out of his


stable to start, justawayfromhis friends and straight back. Days and days passed, and it became easier.Thenwewentintothe field, once round and back to the stable. He called alot and stopped, but we spokequietly and waited forhim to be ready to move on abit further.We walked round our big field, the firstfew times were stopstart, panics, refusing to move,calling to his friends, but with time,noharsh words, we movedon. Weeks went by andhestarted following us round the field, no stopping, little calling justwhenhefeltabit unsurebut that is ok.


Ayearhas passed by andMarshal loveslifein


hislittle herd. He comesinevery day, some days we do some walking, some dayshedoesn’twant to and that is fine.Hehas been ridden and each time he wasanangel. Putting him back intoa situation that caused him so much pain mentally and maybe physically takesalot of work. This horse however,keepsgivingback and all he wantsisreassurancethat the pastisnot coming back.


Forthe latestnewsvisitwww.centralhorsenews.co.uk


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