A 12.2hh Horse & Hound Hunt Hero (see H&H 5 December magazine) left his owner “red faced” yesterday (Monday 9 March) when he was returned by a postman after escaping while being led on a hack.
Former H&H employee Emma Rugman (née Sewell) was riding and leading her stepdaughter’s pony Freddie (pictured) on their land when he made a bid for a freedom.
“The horse I was sat on was really fresh and kept on bucking and spooking so I ended up having to let go of Freddie,” Emma said.
“As soon as I let go, he buggered off home and I think the postman must have met him on the track.”
Emma returned home to find Freddie happily munching in the garden and a “missed delivery” note from her postman.
The postman had ticked the box saying the parcel was “too large for the letterbox”.
The note added: “Found one loose horse on the track. Led it back to the pen, but didn’t know what to do?”
The postman also ticked to say that the item had been left in a safeplace, “hopefully near pen”.
Emma added: “I was in such a bad mood when I got back, but then I found the note and it was so funny.”
Freddie has a reputation for being tricky with everyone apart from his rider, 11-year-old Isabel.
“He is so naughty,” Emma said. “He is quite prone to escaping and the problem is once he escapes you can’t catch him.
“Yesterday I tried to block one of the exits to the garden with a wheel barrow and of course he jumped straight over it. Eventually I managed to corral him.”
Measuring only 127cm, Freddie is too small to be allowed to affiliated event despite tacking massive hedges on the hunting field. But he has been taking part in some affiliated working hunter competitions and has qualified for the British Show Pony Society Winter Championships.
“Because he has been doing the workers, he has stopped hunting early. He is clearly so furious about it that he has started making his own fun,” Emma added.
