Success stories Bogsnog's Journey by Sarah Newell

I picked Bogsnog, now known as Boggy, up from his last race at Leicester races in 2017 and our partnership started with him having six months down time to let his feet recover! He started his retraining in April 2018 with two months hacking before we started any schooling work. Boggy wouldn’t leave the yard for the first month without my dad walking by his side and he would spend the whole time neighing and calling for his friends but slowly he started to gain his confidence on our hacking route and he will now venture out on his own or in company and lead any horse anywhere (even down a main road!)

Throughout 2018 we attended many RoR club nights and started Boggy with some poles and little jumps. My two aims for 2019 were to get to the RoR National Championships at Aintree International Equestrian Centre and complete a one day event. Our only problem was cross country, Boggy hated water, steps and ditches. After five months of numerous trips to cross country schooling and a helping hand from our RoR coordinator, we finally got boggy in the water. This was achieved by literally lifting foot by foot into the water.

Two weeks later we went to Aintree were he completed two rounds of showjumping confidently and one at a new height for him, which was a big ask. Four weeks later he completed his first one day event with a double clear and finished 17th in his section of 30 riders.

I lost my first horse of a life time 11 years ago and never thought I’d have another until Boggy came along. He’s hard not to love with his huge personality and he’s certainly one of a kind. I’ll be forever grateful to his owner who gave him to me.