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NAF - RIDER SPOTLIGHT

My name is Caroline Murphy and NAF have kindly asked me to write a short piece about myself for their Horse and Rider Spotlight! I am absolutely thrilled to be able to do this and talk about my wonder horse, my soul mate, Coco!

I am a disabled person who had to pull out of secondary school at 6th form, just before my A levels, with a debilitating condition which had very physical effects on my body as well as my mental health. I had just completed my AS levels and was set for a promising career in the arts at Sir Paul McCartney’s drama school, LIPA. I was just 17 and all of this was ripped from my hands as condition after condition took over my young body and left me completely bedridden for most of my twenties and thirties. After being bedbound for an entire decade I was left feeling as though I could not carry on with my life, I had been riding horses and ponies, from my Aunties welsh section to 17.3 hand thoroughbreds, since I could be held on the back as a tiny newborn baby and wanted to be able to do this every day of my life but with an extremely rare brain condition that only 1 in 100,000 people have AND which was blinding me permanently, could I?

I said to myself I would try one more time, I went to a hacking centre with a ménage and I tried one more time to sit on the back of a horse, pushing with all my energy to leave the sanctuary I had called bed for over 20 years of my life... I pushed with all of my might and I was up!!! Despite severe muscle waste I was sitting on a horse but could I stay on?! I tentatively squeezed my legs and I was off.... not off off but walking...., and then trotting! I couldn’t believe it I was riding with all that was wrong with me! I was borrowing the legs of this beautiful beastie. I wanted more!

I went back with renewed vigour and a thirst to really ride and there was this beautiful big white horse, they type dreams are made of, standing in the barn tacked up waiting for someone...., for me!!! She was known as “the scary horse” apparently left there by her owner who had lost her confidence on her, scared and lost this horse would spin and bolt, no one on the yard would ride her and she was rarely booked in for hacks. That made me want to ride her more, I felt a connection to this wild spirit immediately and couldn’t wait to make that connection a physical one by sharing our first ride.

I mounted the huge horse who I found out was called Coco, she was a 16.2 Irish draught mare, from Ireland but brought over to England and sold via dealer to one owner who lost confidence who sold her to the yard who then met me! I was one of her first rides and boy couldn’t I wait....

I slipped gently into the, she had been sitting with head very low and glum, dull eyed but wary and ready to spin on a six pence should anyone come close. She was pulled to the mounting block... as our bodies met she turned sharply to look at me and stopped, it was as though the world around us was on pause. I stroked her neck and spoke to her, “hello Coco! What a good girl you are!” I spoke to her about everything and she didn’t take her ears off me for one minute! The hack was for an hour through forest and woodland on Wenlock Edge and we regularly saw wildlife such as buzzards and deer that excited me every time but I could have seen a whole herd of deer that day and not taken my eyes off Coco for a second. She was captivating, I couldn’t tell who was more interested in who but we had the most incredible ride together, she listened to everything I asked of her though obviously she had only been hunted and asked to walk and run in a straight line, she was so keen to learn and please me I was in love. I really hadn’t want to own a horse with my disabilities but I wasn’t letting this unicorn, this horse of a lifetime, get away.

Months passed and our bond had become so strong that comments were made by all who saw us together, word had passed around the yard about how we worked so well together and it had to be said, even Mum who is terrified of horses had fallen in love with this noble steed! On a hack with my yard owner I muttered those fated words “what would you say if I asked to buy her please?” The silence fell and it felt like forever before he said “we asked your Mum last week if you’d like to loan her but of course, we haven’t bonded, you’d make the perfect owner for her!” I smiled a smile so big you could see it back at the yard several miles away but also felt a little sick that I’d ruined Mum’s surprise.... she was planning on loaning my beautiful Coco for me for Christmas, now I’d bought us a horse!!!! Oops!

Coco and I became owner and Mummy on the 1st of December 2018, I’d got everything for her, rugs, tack, Numnah in every colour at least twice, you name it, she was SPOILT! So much so we began to get bullied by other people on the yard for having so many nice things!!!

We enrolled Coco in the horse health programme with our vet and got them out immediately, I had suspected that Coco had something slightly wrong with her due to sometimes reacting to things as though they’d fallen from the sky and noises before seeing things. I was right, she was blind in her right eye! I HAD A BLIND HORSE, LIKE ME!!!

We were both visually impaired which brought us even closer together and we were inseparable. I knew how to handle Coco as I had learnt to cope with sightloss myself, we were PERFECT for each other. Just as I borrowed her wings as I rode, she borrowed my good eye as we walked the roads and manoeuvred objects and coped with high stress situations like tractors passing together. We were an unstoppable force.

In 2019 we spent the year learning side saddle, going to our first fun rides together, winning a fancy dress competition and even going drag hunting as I don’t want to hurt animals but wanted her to have a lovely run! What next I hear you cry?! Well..... that’s just it!!! Coco suffered badly from lameness due to her previous life so we moved to our fantastic new home mid 2019. We had received comments such as “she’s just a happy hack she doesn’t need any vet help”, whether she was a happy hack or an Olympian we would still help her with anything she needed, and we did! To date Coco has been insured and had treatment and surgery some covered and some exempt for:

flat feet - remedial farriery

Melanoma inside her right eye blinding her and detaching her retina

Melanoma on her left eyelid injected with mitomycin-c gel which will be lasered if and when small enough if it doesn’t shrink with the injections alone. Melanoma also found inside the eyeball on this side.

Melanoma under tail debulked with laser (40% so far) the rest will be removed with laser or mitomycin-c whichever is more successful

Melanoma found in the guttural pouch on left side

One diseased tooth 309 lower left to be removed soon by dental specialist

So she hasn’t had it easy has our girl! However... earlier this year we began our dream of becoming a pair of dancing diva and were taken on by our new coach Sir Lee Pearson CBE! What a man he is! I couldn’t believe it when he said yes as we have been talking about having lessons since the London Paralympics in 2012 but either I haven’t been well enough or I haven’t had a horse to ride and then along came this SO CALLED “spooky, scary, lose your confidence, only a happy hack, not worthy” ponio named Coco and she is absolutely loving it! She learns and takes in new information incredibly quickly, she had never seen the inside of a school and how to train before I rode her in the ménage and she is now doing shoulder ins, leg yields and some more advanced dressage moves which even I haven’t got the hang of yet! She’s going to need to sell me and get a better rider I think! I couldn’t be more proud of my little lady, at 13 I hope we have many more years together despite the fact she has been so unwell.

You can follow our story together and watch us grow at www.facebook.com/thebigirishgrey if you’d like to. I have to keep reminding myself it’s only been less an two years that I’ve owned this girl, she’s my horse of a lifetime and will be with me for whatever lifetime she has I can assure you that! We will grow old and blind together and be happy doing so!

Thank you for all of your support!

Lots of love from Caroline and Coco

Products we love by NAF:

NAF OMEGA OIL: this makes a great paste with NAF’s turmeric with black pepper!

NAF TURMERIC PLUS : with the added black pepper it’s much better for horses and we love making a paste out of it with NAF OMEGA OIL.

NAF MINT AND GARLIC: we feed this all year round for a healthy coat and it’s exceptionally good for putting off biting insects (and vampires! Hehe)

NAF APPY / CHERRY / HEDGY / MINTY TREATS : Coco goes wild for these and she is fussy with treats I can tell you! She won’t go for salt licks and various things in her food but she will do anything for a NAF treat!!

NAF PAINT IT BLACK : for those extra black hooves on show day or for looking shiny on a hack to show off to friends! Sssh!

NAF OFF EXTRA EFFECT: a natural fly spray that helps my grey horse who gets covered in flies!

NAF PURPLE SPRAY: you always need a bottle of this around in your tack room or horse first aid kit! For those little bumps and knocks that horses ALWAYS get!

NAF VET WRAP: this is another first aid MUST for me, before the vet gets there, you can pick some groovy colours too!

I have to say that NAF is one of those names that just screams quality to me, if there’s a product made by NAF and someone else I will always choose NAF because they are the mark of honesty and the mark of horse care and lovers for me! Thank you NAF!

(NOTE: ALL OF THE PRODUCTS ON THIS LIST I HAVE USED AND WOULD NOT INCLUDE ANY I HAD NOT PAID MONEY FOR AND BOUGHT AND USED MYSELF MORE THAN ONCE).

[thebigirishgrey]

[thebigirishgrey]

IRISH DRAUGHT HORSE SOCIETY GB YEARBOOK 36TH EDITION -

For the last 10 or so years of my life the only horses I’ve seen are the ones in my favourite stories, come to life at night in my dreams. The Silver Brumby, Black Beauty, War Horse, The Last Unicorn, you name them, Ive read them or seen them on screen, and at night they dance on my closed eyelids across my mind into their golden fields far far from my reach. It hurt so much to be bed bound and far from the animals I love so much, I am severely disabled with a brain condition that is trying to blind me and mobility problems that cause chronic pain and fatigue that make me feel like I actually have a horse on my back rather than the other way round!

In 2018 I decided that rotting in my bed for the rest of my life, was not an option, for nearly 10 years I’d spent my life in the same 4 walls and duvet, a modern day prison. I asked Mum one evening if she would help me get back in the saddle metaphorically and physically. We found a riding school and there in the corner was a horse they deemed “the scary one”. She was an Irish Draught mare who someone had sold to the school after losing their confidence with her.

“The scary one” was aptly named we thought, as she turned on a sixpence while tied in the corner, would look at you with glaring wide eyes and she was bright white although covered in teasels and mud! A little like the 4th horse, the horse of death! Something about this horse made me want to know her, I felt like I knew her. I had only ever seen Irish Draught horses in books and they had always been very different from this spectacle in front of me.

She snorted as I went closer, scared and misunderstood. She sniffed my hand and licked it. I knew we would friends from then on. I rode other horses for the first few weeks and found that my balance was awful but my determination to ride was second to none. All the time this horse was in the back of my mind.

One day I arrived early at the yard as I always did to groom and cuddle the horse I was going to be riding as I hate it when people just turn up and get on as though the animal is a robot for their pleasure. Low and behold, this horse, the scary horse, was stood, tacked up ready for a ride! I couldn’t believe it, someone was going to ride this thing? How brave were they! It turned out a lady called Caroline….. the same name as mine! was going to hack out with us and ride her. As soon as I saw Caroline reach the yard I could feel the colour green rising from my ankle boots up through my gaiters and soon reaching my Charles Owen skull cap. My envy would have burst though the top and out of my mouth had I not grit my teeth so hard.

I couldn’t physically speak for most of the ride, I was captivated by this monster, chewing and pulling at the bit, spinning round and round, spooking at nothing… I wanted to ride her!!!

I didn’t actually tell anyone after my ride how I had felt about seeing this big mare act like everyone around her was the enemy, instead I went up to her and bathed the mud gently from her hooves. She span so she could watch my every move but she seemed as captivated by me as I was with her. I asked what she was called, Coco was her name.

The next week I went up with renewed enthusiasm to find out more about this amazing horse. It felt she mirrored peoples misinterpretation of my pain and discomfort but how was she misunderstood? Could I get the chance to find out?

I was happy to see the mare was tied up and tacked up ready for another outing, though my heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I was told that I was the jockey for the ride! I was absolutely star struck and nearly burst with excitement but I knew I had to contain my overwhelming feeling of joy and anticipation as this could quite easily send our friend Coco skyward!

I mounted from the block and she watched every step I took, she shuffled and wouldn’t stand as I hovered over her but once our bodied connected it felt as though a plug had connected into a socket, electricity, fireworks, I knew we belonged together. Coco watched me with her antennae ears for the whole ride, she didn’t put a single foot wrong and with my loose hands, allowing her to react to any situation she felt scary, she rode easily and free. This is the Irish Draught I know.

I dismounted and nearly fell backwards into the arms of my instructor as Id spent the whole ride, watching, listening and connecting with Coco. I was absolutely smitten and in love with this horse and did not want to leave her. I asked immediately if I could book in with her for every ride in future and that is how our blossoming relationship started.

Coco took me on so many adventures but restricted by riding school rules we could never spend any time alone unfortunately. I dreamt of her, no longer fixated on my storybook ponies, SHE galloped my midnight fields. She felt different from other horses, something I felt as soon as I got on her, she looked after me in a way that said she knew I was different too.

One day I had had enough about hearing how I had brought Coco on so well and how people thought she was a different horse with me, I found it leapt from my mouth… in the middle of a hack… “What would you say if I asked to buy Coco?” …. my heart had spoken. I’d never be able to afford her without Mum but I’m sure I could persuade her, look what Coco had done for me! I was bed bound this time last year and now I’m riding twice a week! What would my instructor say though? I couldn’t hear for my heart pounding, I thought Coco would spook for sure but maybe she knew what I had asked? She waited as patiently and intently as I did for an answer. “Yes of course you can buy her, I asked your Mum last week if you’d like to loan her!”. What had I done? Id spoilt poor Mum’s surprise! She was asked by the owners if I would like to loan Coco and I’d gone and ruined it by buying us a horse! oops! Well that was my Christmas sorted and for several decades to boot!

I couldn’t contain my excitement. Coco was MY horse! Not yours, not anyones, MINE! I think even Coco knew, she acted like she had a Mum for the first time and I was able to spoil her with rugs and food and all sorts of saddlery! But the most important thing of all was being able to get a vet out to do a health check now that she was mine. Something just spoke to me, maybe SHE was trying to tell me herself, but something said that she wasn’t quite your regular horse.

The vet checked her over, some slight wear from hunting in Ireland, a few melanomas, but what we were stunned by was that Coco was blind in one eye! It made a whole lot of sense about her reaction to various things on hacks, noises seemed to have her on edge before she saw things and items like wheelie bins at the side of the road seemed to have been dropped by aliens out of nowhere very suddenly as we were on top of them almost. It was almost a relief to know as I could adapt her life for the better and make it safer for both of us. I have to thank her for being such an amazing safety blanket for me, despite her own disability, i don’t think many breeds of horse would have done the same.

I adore Coco for the horse she is but I also love that she is an Irish Draught; I am a Murphy and naturally wanted an Irish horse from when I was a little one! Dad’s name was Seamus Joseph Patrick Murphy so you couldn’t get more Irish than him! Coco loves her Guinness and so did Dad, he passed away 12 years ago and I know he would have loved to help me with her and so she makes me feel very close to him. I like to think each time I ride she puts me a little closer to heaven as she’s taller than the ground! So he can see me ride. I had always felt the Irish Draught was most suitable for me as a heavier and disabled person because I would naturally squash a thoroughbred and I need something that’s going to hold my big bum and look good doing do! But also have the temperament of a saint and not so highly strung that it will chuck me off every 5 minutes but that will have SOME character and I love the cheeky draught personality! Who doesn’t?!

Call me a glutton for punishment but I had always wanted a grey horse too! I know they take more washing tablets than Dot Cotton’s launderette but they look amazing when clipped and clean! Of which Coco rarely is I admit! However she has taken me to some amazing events this year where she has been looking exceptional! I had always wanted to do some fun rides and the very first I attended in my whole life was this year at Bissellwood Equestrian Centre, transported by Helen Clarke for my 31st birthday! It was such a dream to find out that Coco would just walk on to the transport without any fuss and also travel like she had done it all her life. I think the last time she had done anything was coming over from Ireland a few years before so I was extremely proud of her. Everyone at the event thought she was such a gorgeous horse and I was so proud to be riding and showing her off. It was the first time I felt like I truly owned her. I took her round the 8 mile course on my own and even walked her around the cross country jumps to see what she thought of them. We didn’t jump any but she was extremely well behaved and we walked over some like trotting poles, what a star! You can see how happy I was in the picture by Cordelia Noble of me cantering through the bluebells! I had specially made a cross country set with shamrocks in irish green, befitting of my noble steed and her heritage!

We attended a few more fun rides, Eaton Mascott was lovely, I am pictured cantering at the end by Something From The Hart. This ride I managed to meet up with a friend and we even did our first ever jump although we didn’t plan to! Coco followed our friend over a log! I managed to stay on in an “its okay Mum I’ve got this” situation! One thing you’ll notice in all of our pictures, also the lovely one by Chris Maddox Photography at Millichope, is that we are both always smiling and happy! Any time I’m with my Coco, I am on top of the world and I don’t take anywhere near as much pain relief. I find she is my healing power and therapy.

We also did our first show this year but due to the fact Coco has a few dents and bangs, we decided we would enter something a little more lighthearted and go for the fancy dress. Don’t worry we didn’t make all of the children cry by beating them but we did win and I was absolutely over the moon with Coco as it was her first time receiving applause in a large arena and although she didn’t know where it was coming from as she couldn’t see it, she retained her decorum! Here you can see us as Gandalf and Shadowfax (female form!) by EquinePix Photography at Burwarton Show. We hope to go back in 2020 to defend our title, maybe… perhaps… it was jolly good fun! Especially shouting YOU SHALL NOT PASS at the cross roads of the horse walk where people were trying to pass.

Another highlight this year was a side saddle clinic with Rachael Forkings at Silligrove Livery in Kinlet, we learnt a lot in our first ever go at side saddle and actually first ever clinic!!! Coco was fantastic as usual and took to it immediately. We were cantering around the arena by the end of it and look forward to another session in March.

Probably my biggest highlight of the year was going out hunting with The Border Beagles Hound Club, I’d never hunted in my life and never thought I could but the beagles took me under their paw and I can truly say I’m addicted and can’t wait to go back. I had wanted to do something special for Coco’s GOTCHA DAY the anniversary of buying her and I was not disappointed, the way this horse pricked her ears yet stood obediently when asked but also galloped like the wind when we wanted was absolutely fantastic, she proved her training in Ireland is still in there and its clear to see that its something SHE loves to do too. Here are some fab pics by Darryl Owen Photography of the opening meet on December 1st. The Beagles are a drag hunt and do all they can to keep wildlife and countryside safe as they practice this age-old tradition on horseback.

Late Summer, Coco and I moved to a new yard, Chorley Equestrian Centre in Shropshire, we have been taught by Charlie Lloyd who served in the Kings Royal Horse Artillery and are now focusing on dressage to have a little try at unaffiliated in the coming year. We also hope to try some jumping and some other great clinics countywide.

I would firstly like to thank the breeders of Coco - LADY YEATS, she was brought into this world by dam Brackney Lodge owned by Alex Moores and sire Rosheen Yeats owned by Pauline Furlong. Before owning Coco I literally only knew Blue Peter as a television programme and King of Diamonds as that in a pack of cards. These ladies have helped me learn more about Coco than anyone and have brought her into this world, without them I wouldn’t be writing this today, thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me the best gift of all, my freedom on the wings of my beautiful heart horse and soul mate, Coco.

Thanks also go to Cathy Meehan for the information she has so helpfully provided about Coco and her breeding with Gentle Diamond, I have yet to trace Cathal Gallagher who is the owner of the foal and previous owner of Coco but I continue to try as I would love to know about this period of her life. Please get in touch if you have any information.

Thank you to Louise Errington, Marily Power at Suma Stud, and the Irish Draught Photo Archive Facebook Group your information and photographs of Coco’s ancestors has been invaluable in producing a family tree for her, something I have always wanted to do.

I must finally add huge thanks to all that produced the Stourport Irish Draught Horse Society GB show 2019. I attended with my Mum as a spectator last year and was blown away by the kindness of all competitors and judge Julie Cornthwaite who along with Sue Benson (chairman) has asked me to write this article for the yearbook. I watched the show and was particularly blown away and fond of the two greys (naturally some might say!) Silver Grey Bouncer owned by Anna Ersting ridden by Matthew Ainsworth and Nice One Frank owned and ridden by Emma Spencer (Reserve Best in Show). Watching these horses and all others on the day gave me a thirst for more with Coco, to become a better rider and to learn more about the breed itself. I immediately came home and read all of my draught books, having already signed up to the society when I bought Coco. I couldn’t have been more proud of being a member, even a lowly spectator! I was so happy that I swallowed my anxiety and feeling of inadequacy and went to talk to judge Julie Cornthwaite after the show to congratulate her one a fantastic day and her amazing riding (she should have got a trophy too!) but also to find out more about showing Coco. One day I hope to find courage to enter a local show for best tack and turnout as advised by Julie as they look less on scars and melanomas there and visiting the show at Stourport really has pushed me to do this. Coco and I even won tack and turnout at the Border Beagles opening meet so it seems Julie’s words of wisdom have truly paid off, thank you so much!

“My name is Caroline Murphy and I am addicted to the Irish Draught!’