Seamus O'reilly........

... or Shea as I called him was a very large grey Irish Sports Horse who crossed my path a good few years ago. My farrier put me on to him, had seen him at one of the yards he was shoeing at. He was very skinny and neglected. To cut a long story short, I managed to get him, a 17.2hh gawky bundle of nerves (not such a great idea as i had a 17hh warmblood at the time!!). He was very withdrawn, very wary of men, we discovered he had air rifle pellets in his chest, a large bony lump on the side of his head and he was terrified of whips. You get the picture?

I got to know him and he got to know me and he was the most gentle horse I'd ever known. I loved him! I'd had him a few years and I got ill so I had to sell him. It was a very difficult decision but he went to a lovely girl who'd always admired him and she took him hunting and eventing (he absolutely loved it).

The reason for this seemingly unconnected post is that I've had a lot of time to waste this last week and, this morning, chatting to a friend on MSN, she said that her friend had seen him on a hunt outing. She said that he looked great.

I've been thinking about him all day, so I dug out a photo and here he is.