Horses Of The Week - Farmer and Grey Boy.

This is ‘Cumbrian Farmer’, a nine-year-old Thoroughbred and has been owned by Shona Murdoch since May 2016. Shona explains: “Farmer was last raced on 28th April 2016, and was a National Hunt horse. But now, he regularly competes in unaffiliated show jumping, dressage and arena eventing, for all of which he then accumulates points towards the RoR regional leagues which are run by Retraining of Racehorses. He also competed at the RoR National Championships at Aintree in August, where he did some lovely rounds, got lots of rosettes and everyone took a shine to him!” “Farmer ran 25 times before coming to me in May this year. Farmer and I will do more dressage over winter and start competing in affiliated British Showjumping for the miles, in the view of doing affiliated British Eventing next year. He is one brave lad so cross country is no problem to him! He will also be going back to Aintree for the RoR National Champs in August next year.” “Farmer is a large, big boned Thoroughbred and stands at 16.3hh, he is very long and difficult to manoeuvre. He was very rigid through his neck, shoulders and back when I got him. With the use of  Feedmark’s ExtraFlex HA with Rosehips, he moves well from behind and has the most amazing trot you could wish for, he just needed it unleashing!” “My other horse is Grey Boy, who’s registered name is ‘I'm Your Man’! He is an 18-year-old Thoroughbred who stands at 16.1hh, and was a National Hunt horse. I’ve owned him since 2011, and he competes in Showing, dressage and hacking. Grey Boy used to love hunting, hunter trials, show  jumping and pony club but age and injuries caught up with him and got in the way of things!” “He recently won an ex racehorse class at a local show though, so the boy has still got it! Grey Boy won, and was Reserve Champion at Penrith Show in 2014, where he qualified to go to Blair Horse Trials for the champs. He then came 6th in the UK! He has also completed countless Endurance GB pleasure rides and loved it! Grey Boy was bred, owned and trained by the Slack family, he ran 72 times winning nearly £24,000 in his career. He was a firm favourite at Stoneriggs with his trainer often riding him out.” “Grey Boy will be competing in dressage over the winter. He loves cross country, but with so many injuries over the last 18 months he hasn’t done anything but hacking or flatwork. My dream is to take him cross country one more time, just to see him so happy in what he loves doing! He will be out doing the round at the local shows next season too, and will be at the RoR National Champs at Aintree in August.” “Before I started Grey on ExtraFlex HA with Rosehips last year he would struggle to walk up or down the field in a morning, especially in the cold. But since he has been on ExtraFlex HA with Rosehips, his hocks have stopped clicking, he is freer in his back end and he has a new lease of life too, he is like a two-year-old sometimes!”