Saturday 25 February 2012

The next step for Knightley?

Lots of you will remember Mr Knightley, who arrived from Dubai at the end of October.  He made the epic journey from 40 degree temps in UAE to damp, chilly Exmoor but to my surprise seemed to love the climate, as well as his new found ability to mooch round the tracks rather than being mostly stabled.

When he arrived he had been out of shoes for a long time but had several problems with several legs.  As well as central sulcus infections on 3 out of 4 feet he had poor medio lateral balance on his front feet and had a DDFT tear to his LH, on which he had been 4/10 lame in walk.  He was landing badly as well, of course.

Knightley has done well during his rehab, and despite having the odd setback has made good progress.  However the problem for Debbie, his owner, is that she and her family are now being relocated, and instead of coming back to the UK, they are being sent to South Africa!
Although she considered taking Knightley there, he would have had to spend months in quarantine and she (quite rightly, IMO) felt this wouldn't be fair on him, and would also risk undoing all the rehab which has gone on since he arrived.  So the question was, where would he go next on his travels? The answer may be Shropshire, where a friend of Debbie's lives.  She was interested in taking Knightley on but was wondering how sound he now was.  We spoke on the phone and I promised her (and Debbie of course!) some footage of him on a circle.

I would have liked to film him on a bright, sunny day, when - being dark bay - he looks incredibly sleek and shiny but of course, this being Exmoor, we have been in fog all week.  Nevertheless, with apologies for the "atmospheric"conditions (distinctly reminiscent of Hound of the Baskervilles), here is Knightley's updated footage.

PS: I know the music is cheesy, but - trust me - its so Knightley...!

2 comments:

amandap said...

He looks fab to me.
Good luck for the future Mr Knightly. x

jenj said...

South Africa! Goodness, Knightley's owner sure does get around!

I do hope he finds a lovely home in Stropshire. If so, it looks like his mum's friend is going to be getting an amazing, SOUND horse! Woot!