‘I by no means thought I’d see this’: pony out competing after grass illness – and almost shedding an ear


  • The proprietor of a horse who survived grass illness – in addition to virtually shedding an ear – says she “by no means thought I’d see the day we had been competing and having fun with life collectively”.

    Diesel, and his house owners Jane Robinson and her daughter Ellemae, have been on “fairly a journey”, over the previous 16 years, for the reason that Fell arrived as a younger colt.



    “I’m so happy with him; we’ve nonetheless acquired him, and happy with her,” Jane informed H&H.

    Jane stated the Fell pony was away to be backed, years in the past, when he degloved his ear in a freak accident.

    “The vets had by no means seen something prefer it,” she stated. “He tried to get by a hedge, hit his head on a tree and fell in a ditch and there was nothing on his ear. He needed to have numerous operations, and pores and skin grafts from his girth space, and it was a bit contact and go.”

    Diesel’s ridden profession was then placed on maintain, and two years later, he was again on the vet’s.

    “He wasn’t proper and once I rang the vet, he stated ‘It feels like grass illness’,” Jane stated. “I stated ‘What’s that?’ and he stated ‘He’ll be useless inside 24 hours.”

    Diesel arrived on the clinic “sweating and shaking”, and his prognosis didn’t look vivid.

    “He appeared like a greyhound inside 24 hours,” Jane stated. “He didn’t eat or poo for 4 days. I went to Tesco to purchase him some chopped-up carrots, and I feel that’s all he ate for 50 days. The vet stated if he acquired to 50 days, he had an opportunity.”

    Diesel spent every week on the clinic, then went residence, the place Jane monitored his each transfer.

    “I lived in his secure; it was simply numerous TLC,” she stated. “If he wouldn’t poo, I used to go and get a mare’s poo and put it subsequent to him, to encourage him, however it was love and care and plenty of carrots that acquired him by.”

    By the point Diesel and Ellemae had been 14 and 13 respectively, in lockdown, Ellemae had misplaced her earlier pony Merrylegs, and he or she requested her mom if she might again Diesel.

    “I wasn’t positive it was protected however she wished to do it,” Jane stated. “However she took him on they usually rode around the farm; it was like he had accomplished all of it earlier than. She began social media accounts on his journey, and it’s all simply escalated. They’ve turn out to be finest mates.”

    Ellemae is now an envoy for and sponsored by equestrian manufacturers, and he or she shares her and Diesel’s story, hoping to boost consciousness of grass illness.

    “A vet saying you don’t have anything left to do for him and you’ve got lower than 48 hours together with your horse is totally tragic,” Ellemae informed H&H. “I by no means thought I might ever see the day we’re going out competing and having fun with our life collectively. He’s wonderful.”

    “I by no means thought she’d again him and journey him,” Jane added. “She’s now purchased herself a trailer and is hoping to get out to competitions. She’s off to the Nationwide Equine Present as their ambassador, and he or she’s accomplished this all herself. For him to undergo what he has and be backed at 13 – I by no means thought I’d see that.”

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