Horse of the Week

The Ghost Horse of Maroa, Illinois, USA

Over the years there have been numerous sightings of a ghost horse in Maroa, Illinois, USA. A white figure that is formed from smoke appears on the road near a local bar, it then materialises into the figure of a horse. Legend tells that one should never get in the way of the ghost horse or it will run you down just like it did to Curly Jefferson in the 1950's.

Happy Halloween

Milton - show jumping's first millionaire horse

 

The 16.2hh grey gelding, Milton was born in 1977 sired by the show jumper Caroline Bradley's Marius. Caroline purchased Milton as a foal and trained him until her tragic and unexpected death in 1983. She had told her parents that Milton was to be her Olympic horse and they resisted numerous offers to sell him.

Caroline's parents decided to send Milton to John Whitaker but he couldn't take the horse straight away and as they needed to find homes for some 29 of Caroline's horses Milton went to Steven Hadley along with 5 other horses.

Unfortunately Milton sustained a tendon injury whilst with Steven. He reared while being clipped and the blade sliced into his tendon, this resulted in Milton having tendon surgery and 18 months off work. But as British team vet, John Macures said this could have been a blessing in disguise, "Very often these super horses, they work too much too young, and with Milton because of his accident he was brought up very slowly and gently. When he was 9 years old he just had the experience of a 6 year old."

After his recovery Doreen Bradley, Caroline's mother, sent Milton to John Whitaker,this was the start of one of the greatest show jumping partnerships ever seen. Milton and John Whitaker went on to win over £1million pounds in prize money, silver and gold medals in Europen Championships, The FEI World Cup Final twice as well as numerous other international show jumping competions.

 John said of Milton, "when he takes off, you felt that you'd never come down". 

Milton was retired in 1993, he spent his retirement in Yorkshire at John Whitaker's farm. He died, as a result of colic, in 1999, one of the best loved show jumpers of all time.

 

Plum the Perfect Pony from Jill and the Perfect Pony by Ruby Ferguson

"Plum was a sort of legend in our neighbourhood. She was said to be fabulous, and never put a foot wrong."

Plum is the "Perfect Pony" from Jill and the Perfect Pony by Ruby Ferguson;

"She was a very pretty grey, with a white mane and tail, and at first sight looked much too pretty to be any good, only running my practised eye over her I noticed that she had lovely lines, and flawless lega and neck, and a very good head."

Jill and the Perfect Pony is the 7th book in Ruby Ferguson's "Jill" series about young rider Jill Crewe and her two ponies Black Boy and Rapide.

"Amanda Applewood has a perfect pony, but she can't stand riding! So when an invitation to stay with them and join their team for the gymkana comes from the Locketts, she gets Jill to take her place. To Jill's horror, the Locketts think she is the impossible Amanda - and treat her accordingly!"

The Jill series

• Jill's Gymkhana Sometimes sold with A stable for Jill. (1949)
• A Stable for Jill (1951)
• Jill has Two Ponies (1952)
• Jill Enjoys her Ponies (1954) (later republished as Jill and the Runaway)
• Jill's Riding Club (1956)
• Rosettes for Jill (1957)
• Jill and the Perfect Pony (1959)
• Pony Jobs for Jill (1960) (later republished as Challenges for Jill)
• Jill's Pony Trek (1962)

Eight Belles - tragic American racehorse

 
Eight Belles - February 23, 2005 – May 3, 2008

Eight Belles was a Thoroughbred racehorse who despite her abilities is most remembered for her horrific demise.

A direct decendant of Northern Dancer, "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history", Eight Belles was the only filly to win the Martha Washington Stakes. She also won the Honeybee Stakes and the Fantasy Stakes before going on to race in the Kentucky Derby in 2008.

Eight Belles finished second in the Kentucky Derby but collapsed after crossing the finishing line as both front legs snapped at the cannon and sesamoid bones, she was destroyed immediately as the attending vet, Dr. Larry Bramlage declared the "trauma was too severe to even attempt to move her off the track"

Eight Belles trainer, Larry Jones said, "She's bad about stumbling while pulling up. She doesn't pick her feet up very high. It's one reason she could run very fast and far. She had the perfect motion for being effective and efficient. However, those horses who do that have a tendency to want to stumble."

Many believe the weakness that led to this horrific accident was due to inbreeding, nearly all American racehorses are decendants of Northern Dancer.

 

"She ran with the heart of a locomotive, on champagne-glass ankles."

Sally Jenkins - Washington Post

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Black Bess - Dick Turpin the Highwayman's famous mare

 

"She was built more for strength than beauty, and yet she was beautiful. Look at that elegant little head; those thin tapering ears, closely placed together; that broad snorting nostril, which seems to snuff the gale with disdain; that eye, glowing and large as the diamond of Giamschid! Is she not beautiful? Behold her paces! How gracefully she moves! She is off! no eagle on the wing could skim the air more swiftly."

Description of Black Bess from the book  Rookwood written by Harrison Ainsworth in 1834.

But was Black Bess real or just a fictional character in the Ainsworth books written about Dick Turpin some 100 years after his death?

Well we know that Dick Turpin the highwayman stole a black horse at gunpoint from a man called Major so it's possible that he named this horse Black Bess. But it is doubtful that Dick Turpin and Black Bess made that 200 mile overnight journey from London to York that they are famed for. In fact some say that the journey was made by another highwayman William Nevison but in reality it was probably impossible to travel such distance so quickly in the 18th century and it certainly couldn't have been done on only one horse.