Beating the odds

Counting my blessings

LAST December, my showjumper, James, went in for a routine back injection due to a mild case of kissing spines. Unfortunately the injection caught a nerve and paralysed him for two-and-a-half hours. He fell to the floor and couldn’t get up. Once he managed to scrabble to his feet, he incurred a serious hock injury and lost all use of his tail due to nerve damage.

I set about trying to rehabilitate him, and because of the endless vet visits had to sell my horsebox to afford to treat him. For the first three months I couldn’t ride him at all. I was heartbroken seeing him in the field, not joining all the jump clinics at our yard that he so loves. My friends stood by my side and gave me a shoulder to cry on – I couldn’t have done it without them.

Gradually James started feeling better and I could finally get back on him, with lots of walking to strengthen him up. He never put a hoof wrong and trusted me that if I said he could do it, he could.

Eventually the time