GET READY FOR A LONG READ.....For someone I never met, Hannah Francis had such a positive impact on my life. I began follwing Hannah's story a couple of weeks after my horse Harley was diagnosed with a ligamnet injury (sustained in the field) in August 2015, which I was told by the vets that she had a 50% of never recovering from. My whole world fell apart for a while, I will never forget the day I recieved that call from the vet. I fell to my knees and I sobbed & sobbed. Harley is not the easiest of horses, what she makes up for in talent, she lacks in sense at times. When she first came in to my life I was well aware I was WAY overhorsed, but I could see how incredibly talented she was and I was prepared to put everything I had in to trying to tap in to her potential (if she would let me...) I had an amazing instructor who gave us lesson after lesson over the next two years, I hacked her out as much as I possibly could (even though it terrified me) and slowly things began to fall in to place with us. There was bucking, broncing, rearing & a couple of falls along the way but I was detemined to keep going as out relationship blossomed. I booked us in to every single rally, training day, pleasure ride we could get to, you name it, we did it - fancy dress, beach rides, flatwork clinics, jumping & cross country, we did the lot. I spent most of that period of time taking calming tablets for my nerves.

We then began competing... Intro level Dressage, pre-novice show cross & Hunter Trials, had a dabble as Show jumping and even braved a day out Hunting (NEVER AGAIN). All our hard work had paid off & she brought us home with a placing every time we left the yard. That was it, at the back end of 2014 I decided to put my heart & soul in to aiming towards Eventing - my ultimate goal being a BE80 in Autumn 2015 - after all our hard work, it was going to be our year! We both kept fit over winter and started 2015 with a bang - but not in a good way. I had a bad fall at a cross country clinic in February & ended up in hospital. I hit the ground with such force I chipped my tooth and damaged a muscle in my back so badly I couldn't even use the loo without being in agony. Unfotunatley 2015 had a lot more sh+t to sling in our direction... It took me 6 weeks to get back in the saddle properly in April but determined not to be discouraged I entered us in a walk & trot dressage test. Despite not being at my best, and Harley knew that, she managed to bring us a nice red ribbon home and it gave me the boost I needed after feeling so low for 6 weeks. Unfortunatley it was short lived.... a few days later I started to notcie a slight intermittent lameness which I nor the vets could put their finger on. This went on for 3 months which was torture in itself until we finally got the diagnoisis in August after travelling her to York for an MRI scan. A ligament injury in the foot which she may never recover from.... She was to undergo 6 months of small field/box rest, a PRP injection in to the joint & ligament, remedial shoeing and lots of TLC. Trying to keep her quiet for 6 months was horrendous - she was so unhappy being restricted to a small field & stable, there were fireworks on a daily basis and I doubted she would ever come sound despite my best efforts. 6 months came and went (I had just about torn ALL of my hair out by that point) and in March 2016 I began a rehab plan alongside using a microcurrent unit. We made it to week 5 before she went lame again. Months passed by & we experimented with shoeing, A steroid injection in to the joint but nothing seemed to work so I made the decision to turn her away for another 6 months (the options put forward by the vets were put in foal, give anti-inflammatories & happy hack or have her put to sleep)....No way, I was NOT GIVING UP!

So here we are in the present day..... it became apparent that the lameness Harley experienced during the first attempt at rehab was down to an abscess that had tracked up the foot & had possibly been pinching away for about 2-3 months.... so after another 6 weeks rest we decided to give rehab one last go.... we are currently 7 weeks in, being worked every day and still sound - and we are NOT GIVING UP!!!

For the non horsey friends here a BE80 is a one day event where Harley and I will compete in Dressage, Show Jumping (80cm) and Cross Country (80cm) all in one day. We have a huge mountain to climb, not only will this require a lot of time and commitment in order to train and get ourselves fit enough to safely complete but my nerves will also be in tatters from both the riding the AND worrying about keeping Harley safe and sound. We may never get there, but we're going to give it our best shot!!!

I owe this to Hannah to make as much as I can for her charity so PLEASE give whatever you can for an incredible charity set up by a truly amazing young lady.


Maybe that BE80 dream is still alive after all.........