The rider of a home-bred who won his first novice event on the day she had to let his dam go said it was a day of sadness – but also joy, as a part of her beloved mare lives on.
Equine vet Charlotte (Lotty) Allwood and her own seven-year-old HHF Sexy Mail topped their section at Eland Lodge on 27 June. But Charlotte had been in two minds about going as she had had to put her mare Philippa down that morning owing to colic.
“It was the epitome of the highs and lows of horses, within 12 hours,” Lotty told H&H. “It was a strange day, such ups and downs, but she was such a special horse, who taught me so much, so to be out eventing with her baby and him to win was very special.”
Lotty bought Philippa as a teenager, with money she had saved from producing ponies, and they evented successfully together, after which she and her mother Sarah decided to put the mare in foal, and “Merlot” was born.
“We were a little bit drunk when we named him!” Lotty said. “There used to be a horse called Some Chick, which we thought was funny, and as he’s by Jaguar Mail, we thought it would sound funny to have ‘Charlotte Allwood riding sexy male’, and unfortunately that’s the one that stuck!”
Lotty said she produced Merlot slowly, as he is over 17hh, and they came third at their previous novice on 14 June. Then when she went out to feed the horses before the event last Saturday, she found Philippa down in the field.
“I examined her and I knew she was colicking and really poorly,” Lotty said. “It wasn’t a colic that could be saved by surgery so I went to get my mum. We said goodbye to her together and I put her to sleep.
“We were beside ourselves because she’s been in our family 14, 15 years and she’s the queen of the yard. We weren’t going to go but then said ‘What are we going to do, sit here and cry all day? Why don’t we go, it’s what Philippa would have wanted us to do’.”
HHF Sexy Mail dug deep
Lotty said it was not the best dressage test she had ridden but that Merlot is so good on the flat, they scored just over 30. They then went clear in the showjumping.
“I knew the time was really tight across country, and it was only his third novice, so he’s not really used to going at pace,” she said. “I didn’t really know how he was going to handle it, but he was just an absolute superstar, he really dug deep for me.
“Philippa was such a funny mare, she had a really good sense of humour, and was always really careful showjumping.
“She wasn’t the scopiest horse in the world but she had the heart of a lion, she tried for you all the time. She’d look for fences; any time you landed, she was looking for flags, and I really do feel like I went round that course the other day and he was the exact same. It was just like riding Philippa all over again.”
Philippa was buried at home, and Lotty said it was a privilege to be able to give her last and greatest gift to a horse she had loved for so long.
“We had that conversation, and Mum said ‘You can’t do this, we’ll ring’ but I wasn’t going to let her struggle,” she said. “There was never any question in my mind. She knew we were there, and I was able to do that for her, surrounded by people she really knew, and it was so peaceful.
“The last good thing I could do for her”
“Everyone always says it must be so hard and it is, but one of the very kindest things we get to do as vets is relieve suffering. And when you can do that for a horse you really care about, in a situation where they really trust you and know you and they haven’t got a stranger doing it, it was such a special feeling.
“It was the last really good thing I could do for her, because I owed her so much. She gave me so much, not only competing but just through her personality, her bringing up these wonderful babies, being an incredible mum, looking after the herd when she got older. She did so much for us, and that was the kindest thing I could do for her. The last gift I could give her was that and I’m very glad I was able to do that for her.”
Lotty added that it was extra special to have the win on a horse she had bred and known from his first moment.
“It’s always been a dream of mine and my mum’s, to have a home-bred and be able to win with a home-bred, and he’s made that happen for us,” she said. “And on a day that was so poignant and heart-wrenching was incredible. It’s happy and sad at the same time, but I’m very lucky as I’ve got a part of her always now in Merlot – she lives on, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing.
“As a vet, you do steer away from that type of conversation, but it definitely did feel like she was there, and she was looking over us. And I hope we did her proud.”
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