Follow the highs and lows of Strong Hurricane, aka 'Harry', as he prepares for his point-to-point debut under Lizzie’s careful eye
Hello,
I am Lizzie Luxton (pictured below right), 25-years-old, from Devon and welcome to my H&H blog! I spend my summer eventing and train point-to-pointers in the winter.
I’ve evented to two-star level and was crowned south west junior regional novice (JRN, now known as ONu18) champion in 2005. I then rode in point-to-points for three seasons, picking up a winner on my third ride, and I loved it. I then unfortunately broke my collarbone in a fall and lost my confidence. I really enjoy training horses, though, and I’m still more than happy eventing, so this works for me.
The subject of my blog over the next few months is Strong Hurricane — or Harry to his mates (pictured top out hunting with my sister-in-law, Jo Luxton). Harry is a beautiful black gelding by Zagreb, out of a Strong Gale mare called Jane Bond. He is now seven-years-old and was bought out of Ireland from Ascot Sales in October 2013. He is owned by my dad, Steve, and Mike Clark.
Harry was really poor when he arrived; covered in rainscald and sores — so a trip to the beauty parlour was first on the agenda. This was much to Harry’s disgust.
We quickly discovered his absolute disdain at being brushed anywhere on his body — especially his head. Cue lots of standing on stools and nine times out of 10 being knocked off them.
Following lots of TLC, Harry is now a happier being altogether. He still hates having a brush near his head, but he’s generally more coherent about it. He is strong — strong-willed and strong to ride! So while I normally use Jo Buck as a jockey, we’ve decided that in the best interests of everyone involved, Harry will be ridden by Will Biddick.
Will and I have known each other for more years than we can remember and I love to watch him ride; it will be a great thrill to send a runner out with him on board.
The plan is for Harry to have his first run before Christmas and this blog will give you an insight to how he gets there, the highs and the lows (please not too many of them).
He had good form when he came over from Ireland and although he missed last season with a small injury, I’m quite convinced it was nature’s way of saying give him time to get fat and be a proper horse.
Now it’s full steam ahead for the impending season!
Lizzie
