Georges Story

The hardest part of telling this story is realising that George will never be with me again. The day we lost him, we had more than our horse taken away, we lost the future we had with him, summer days and hacks, hazy summer camps and sunsets, winter nights of checking rugs and frosty mornings seeing his breath mist the air. Stolen away by one persons ignorance and disregard for Georges home, his right to be safe and his right to live without fear or attacks from another animal.

Gee gee as we fondly called him, came into our lives unexpectedly after seeing an advert on Pre-loved. We didn’t know when we would be ready to get another horse after loosing Wiggy, my old coloured gelding, as he had been with us for 15 years, but we knew as soon as we met George, that he was a special horse. He came to us in November 2020 and after his initial suspicions about us as owners, a trait of the Appaloosa, once we formed a bond, there was no going back.

Our journey took us to many places over the 3 and a half years, he was truly a horse in a million, turning his hoof to anything we asked. We formed an un-breakable bond through liberty work and he loved trick training. We spent many hours on ground work and in-hand walking, enjoying the world around us.

In the saddle after a year or two of lessons and schooling, we competed at low level dressage, winning our most recent class in April. We hacked and explored the world of pleasure rides, George always loving every moment and our most recent adventure was joining a barrel racing team!

He loved to fly around the course and it was a great sport for me as a rider, ultimately trusting my beautiful steed to carry me around the barrels in the fastest time!

We also competed in horse agility and George had such a quirky way of tackling a course, over tarpaulins, through streamer curtains, carrying flags and navigating scary objects ( which really weren’t scary for George if I was with him). He loved to test out obstacles by picking them up or in the most recent months, doing them on his own!

We recently just got our second horse Milo for my partner Rob, who helped so much with George too, but sadly a month later we hit tragedy.

May 31st 2024

Our last day with George.

Caused by the ignorance of a dog owner who didn’t see the need to keep their dog on a lead whilst camping near our stables. I must point out that the dog in question did not seem vicious or threatening but displayed the nature to chase and leap up at the horses. Horses are prey animals and in a case like this, they will either display their fight or flight response.

The dog was spotted three times in the stable paddocks chasing some of the horses,  the owner was asked to put it safely on a lead. We thought they had, but they must have released it again. Shortly after we heard a commotion in our bottom field where my beloved George was and the dog was still  loose and now chasing him. He ran, as most horses would having a strong flight reaction, but ran too close to the paddock fence and skidded and rolled through, causing severe damage to his front offside tendons in his leg.

Our boy was referred to Pool House Horse hospital but his chances of surviving surgery were so slim, and then his long road to recovery was fraught with danger of infection and complications. He would never be the same horse, even if he did survive the odds, only possibly being a retired field horse.

We made the devastating call to say goodbye to our sweet, sweet boy. He loved life, to race the wind, to gallop and be active. A life in a field was not for him. Even in the end, he trusted us and was so courageous and calm. We cant believe he was snatched away from us by ignorance and sheer disregard.

Our lives will always be better for having know Sir George and he truly was our horse in a million and life will never quite be the same without him.

I wanted to share our story with you, our supporters and through my loss, the Leash and Release Campaign was born. If we can save lives, human or animal and prevent such awful events from happening to someone else, Georges loss will bring some good to the world.

The Legal part

Our case was reported to the Police and after an initial meeting with them to give statements, which was actioned quickly, we had to fight to get further movement and have the dog owners interviewed. The owners were charged with a Voluntary Dog Order which called for them to keep their dog on a lead AT ALL TIMES when out in public, however this restriction although a consequence of the attack, is very hard to police and there is no guarantee that the dog in question is walked on a lead today.

We took the owners to a small claims court which we navigated ourselves and I am pleased to say we won the case for compensation for losses. We also fought a legal battle with the insurance company and legal firm as they claimed we were not covered because George was attacked in his paddock and not whilst being ridden or handled.

Please check your insurance carefully as I insured with one of the leading companies and they cancelled my policy upon the death of George, which they claimed was standard procedure. They assured me it would not affect my Legal cover, which they sold me with my core policy.

When trying to engage my legal cover for the court case, I was told that without an active horse policy in place, my legal cover was void.

I fought both companies on this and luckily, after taking the legal firm to an Ombudsman enquiry, I received compensation for the delay in services.

This insurance debacle added so much extra stress and trauma onto us at the time of Georges death and we couldn't believe that a top leading insurer would have such poor customer service and protocols.

"Run free my wild Appaloosa boy, you carried me on the wind and raced through life as a true partner. You take a piece of our hearts with you."

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In memory of Sir George- 2024

Sir George Barrel Racing at 4 Strides