Mary King’s Olympic medal winning horse, Call Again Cavalier, was put down yesterday after falling and breaking his femur.

Mary was competing at the Express Eventing International Cup in Cardiff when the accident happened.

They were tackling a narrow corner fence called ‘The Duck Houses’ when the 16 year old horse fell and suffered a broken leg.

The 13,000 strong crowd watched as Call Again Cavalier was loaded into a horsebox to be taken away for assessment. Unfortunately his injuries were so severe that the decision was taken to put him to sleep immediately.

Express Eventing organiser Stuart Buntine said:

“This is extremely sad. Our thoughts are with Mary King and Call Again Cavalier’s owners, Edwin and Sue Davies and Janette Chin.”

The Icelandic horse originated from Scandinavia and is thought to have been brought to Iceland by the Vikings around the mid 800’s.

Despite their small size, Icelandic horses are very strong and can easily carry the weight of a full grown adult. They are normally broken to ride at the age of four to five years old and are mostly used for pleasure riding and gaited competitions.

Icelandic horses are renowned for their spirited but willing natures. They are forward going but sensible to ride and easy to handle. Bad natures are not tolerated and even today horses with less than perfect characters are culled for meat which is exported to Europe and Japan.

Iceland is a country with many environmental extremes such as volcanic activity, quicksand, land slides and extremes of weather. Due to this the Icelandic horse has developed the ability to assess a situation rather than flee which is the normal reaction of a flight animal. They also have a higher pain threshold than most horses along with a strong will to survive.

Icelandic horses are fames for their gaits. In addition to walk, trot, canter and gallop, most Icelandic horses can also tölt and skeið.

The tölt is a comfortable gait where the horse moves its legs in the same sequence as the walk but it’s done at speeds ranging from five to twenty five miles per hour.

The skeið is where the horse moves both legs of one side at the same time. The skeið is used in racing and when ridden at full speed is called the flugskeið (flying pace).

Five gaited horses are highly prized and are the ultimate goal for Icelandic breeders whereas horses that don’t possess pace are considered undesirable.

Appaloosas horses are a popular breed due to the variety of colours they can be found in.

They have many other distinctive characteristics such as striped hooves, white sclera, and sparse manes and tails though ‘modern’ Appaloosas are bred to have full manes and tails. One of the most striking colours is the leopard spot. Other coat patterns include blanket, few spot leopard, snowflake, varnish roan and frost.

The conformation of an Appaloosa can vary greatly. The ‘stock horse’ build is well suited to Western Riding and horse racing up 400m. ‘Working’ or ‘foundation’ Appaloosas can still be seen working on ranches. Those with sport horse conformation lend themselves well to English riding and competiton.

Appaloosas are also in demand as leisure horses due to their striking looks and kind dispositions.

The Curly Horse breed is unique in that it carries a gene that gives them curly hair. Some Curlies however can be totally smooth coated while others exhibit breed characteristics such as a curly coat, curly hair in ears, fetlocks and eyelashes and dreadlock type manes.

Curlies can be found in every colour including black, bay, grey, spotted, paint, palomino, buckskin etc but they are most commonly chestnut.

Interestingly, Curlies are renowned for being the only hypoallergenic horse breed. It is believed that a protein that causes allergic reactions to horses is missing from their coats. The study was never officially published though so research continues.

There is much disagreement as to where Curly horses, also known as Bashkir Curlies, American Bashkir Curlies and North American Curly Horses, originate from. Theories include Russia, Tajikistan and even Iberia. Curly Horses can now be found in Canada, North and South America. Europe and Australia. They are a rare breed with less than 4,000 registered.

Curly Horses are renowned for their gentle natures and are used in most disciplines including dressage, jumping, eventing, driving and western riding. Their stamina makes them popular mounts for trail riding and endurance.

Further reading:

http://www.abcregistry.org