Darcy, the ten year-old chestnut brood mare who was wounded by a shot to her head last month, is definitely on the mend. She is still having daily attention to her wound to make sure there is no infection, but she is now able to be out in the field on her own rather than being kept inside under the vet’s close supervision.
“She is”, says Tom Hanlom of High Hope’s Stud, “happiest out – even in the rain.” And when we saw her in one of High Hope’s Stud’s fields at Chisbury she had obviously enjoyed a good roll in a muddy patch of the field.
She did still have a slightly weepy eye and Tom has to wash the eye each day. But the wound itself is now scarcely visible.
The local police Rural Crime Team are continuing their investigation and are still appealing for information from the public.
The bullet has never been found. A scan could not locate it, so it may have come out down her nose. It is thought it was fired from either a .22 or a .170 rifle.
The shot shattered part of Darcy’s nasal bone and the vet took out a big shard of dislodged bone. Tom told Marlborough News Online: “It was very close to her eye. If it had got her eye it could certainly have killed her.”
She was in a field beside Chisbury Woods when she was shot. And whoever fired the shot could well have been in the woods. Although it is fairly secluded, from the top of the field you can see the outskirts of Great Bedwyn.
She is both an extremely unlucky horse and a very lucky horse – very lucky to have survived.
Darcy, whose proper name is Lordships Dimension, was sired by the world’s number one dressage stallion Dimaggio. He won world dressage championships six years running. Dimaggio, a liver chestnut Hanoverian, covered 300 mares and has produced many offspring that have excelled in competitions.
Mildenhall based New Zealand eventer Jonelle Price had major successes during the 2014 season with Trisha Richards’ mare Faerie Dianimo – who was sired by Dimaggio. They won the 8-9 year-old three star event at Blenheim and came fourth at the final competition of the season Les Etoilles de Pau.
Darcy is registered as an ‘elite brood mare’ and has already bred, says High Hope’s Stud owner Mark Hope, “some fantastic foals” which are now competing.
For the full story of Darcy’s home – the High Hope’s Stud – go to Marlborough News Online’s equestrian section: Horsebox.
