A teenager’s high jump record, a rider benefiting from an injection normally given to horses, and other things the equestrian world is talking about
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Teenager clears the biggest fence of her life
British showjumper Rachel Proudley broke her own record by jumping 7ft 3in to tie for victory with Ireland’s Brendan Murphy in the LeMieux puissance at the CSI3* Bolesworth International presented by Al Shira’aa on Saturday 28 June.
Three horse and rider combinations took on the fifth and final round, with the red wall measuring a whopping 2.20m (7ft 3in).
Rachel, who will turn 20 this week, was one of the youngest in the competition and relatively inexperienced in this event – though she has impressive form, having won the London International puissance last December with Graham Ward’s 11-year-old Easy Boy De Laubry Z.
“I asked my vet for the treatment!”
Rider Katie Gilmour was already suffering from soft tissue damage when some dogs ran into her at a clinic, resulting in a serious knee injury – as she described it: “sending my kneecap spinning to the other side”.
Katie had surgery but was still in a great deal of pain. Having long owned and worked with horses Katie was aware of Arthramid, which is designed to reduce pain and swelling and help a joint heal.
“I asked my vet if he could give it to me!” she said. “He thought I was joking but I wasn’t; I started researching the equivalent for humans; a hydrogel injection called Arthrosamid, manufactured by the same company.”
Katie had the injection in January and followed the six-week rehab programme.
Find out more about Katie’s recovery
Farewell to “a perfectionist”
Well known and effective master of the Quorn Hunt Captain Fred Barker has died aged 88. Fred had an initial 13-year term at the helm in the 1970s and 1980s, then returned for a further three seasons. In later life, he became involved in eventing, owning several top-class horses, in recent years ridden by Tom McEwen. He was described as a perfectionist who put everything into whatever he undertook.
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