Duke’s Great Escape

On Sunday 28th October, our gorgeous Spindles Farm survivor, Duke, decided to attempt a daring escape from his field.  After making it over the fence and on to the yard, he climbed up a huge mountain of soil. However, after making it all the way to the top, he couldn’t quite work out how to get back down again. Thankfully Duke’s dedicated grooms where on hand to help show him the way.

Duke’s mountain was in fact the new surface for our new all-weather sand school. The Polytrack surface was generously donated to us by Lingfield Racecourse. Duke is currently being backed by our trainer Jane and he will be one of the horses who benefits from the new school, which is currently being built. It is our first ever sand school and Duke is obviously so excited he couldn’t even wait for it to be finished before checking it out for himself!

Duke, a 16hh black gelding, arrived at The Horse Trust in January 2008 along with 13 of the sickest horses, ponies and donkeys rescued from Spindles farm.  The conditions that they were found in were simply appalling. When Duke arrived, like many of the others he was very underweight, however after specialist treatment and lots of love Duke began to recover. Duke’s health problems did not stop there, as he went on to develop Sarcoids on his left eye. These are small tumours that develop under the eye and cause irritation and painful swelling. Duke travelled to the University of Liverpool’s Equine Hospital to have specialist treatment to remove them. Duke has also suffered from severe bouts of colic which resulted in him undergoing life-saving surgery at The Royal Veterinary College.

Recently Duke has recently competed at Naphill Riding Club Member’s Show where he took home second place in the “Best Turned Out Ridden” and second place in “Best Condition.” We are thinking that after taking home many rosettes from Naphill, Duke escaped from his field to proclaim ‘I am King of the Mountain.’

We still need to raise £25,000 to help us pay for the sand school. Please donate today to help Duke get his new school.