Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Denman gallops again - just for the fun of it!

It was lovely to see the great Denman out parading, under saddle, at Newbury races on Saturday. The old boy looked fantastic – at fifteen years of age, he was still a magnificent barrow-load of muscle, energy, and well-being. As he was ridden round the parade ring by his new 'Mum', Charlotte Alexander, he was clearly enjoying all the cheering adulation he received, and had a distinct air of “Yup, I am The Greatest” about him.

He loves parading before his race at Newbury,” Charlotte said. “He particularly likes hearing all the clapping when walking round the ring and the cheering when galloping back past the stands having led the runners out onto the track. Denman knows he is a star and deserves all the praise lavished upon him — he is an exceptionally brave horse”.
Denman suffered serious illness in 2013, when he contracted a potentially fatal blood and bone infection, and spent five months in equine hospital.
He has taken ages to build up strength and muscle and he is now progressing in leaps and bounds,” Charlotte reports. Denman is now a regular out in the hunting field, and loving it. “He is such a happy horse and it is incredible that he is able to leap across the country as he does. He is like a spitfire, quick, exciting and beautiful.”
Denman doesn't parade much - “He's too busy hunting!” - but he makes a special effort to attend 'his' race , the Denman Chase. It was named after him because he triumphed so brilliantly in it in 2008 (as well as winning two Hennessy Gold Cups at the same Newbury track, in 2007 and 2009). This year, as he led the runners out onto the track, he swaggered along as if he was looking forward to showing all the young whipper-snappers, and everyone else, just how the race should be run – and won! When the runners set off for the start, and Charlotte steered Denman aside and let him open up in a gallop past the grandstand, the crown roared their cheers for him, and Denman looked like he was ready to show them all what proper galloping meant. He would probably have loved to have joined the runners.

The point is, he didn't. Because Denman is an EX-racehorse now. Great as he was back then, his life has moved on. What was so lovely to see was that, though he took a strong enough hold as they galloped, when Charlotte asked him to slow and come back to hand, he did, amazingly quickly and obediently. Though he was a brilliant, tough-as-teak racehorse for many years, and though the call of instinct and old habit, to follow today's runners, must have been immensely strong, Denman did as he was asked and came back to a hack canter. What's more, he went into a beautiful self-carriage outline that would have graced any showring. What a triumph of re-schooling! Charlotte must have been so proud of him. A powerful, fit horse, with all his racing instincts reawakened at the scene of his former victories, could so easily have regressed, boiled over with excitement at old memories, pranced, reared, bucked, bolted...... (And a small lady like Charlotte Alexander could have had a hard time dealing with that!) But none of that bad stuff happened. It was just a perfect demonstration of how retraining a racehorse should turn out.

It was quite clear that Denman and Charlotte Alexander know and trust each other thoroughly. They were both enjoying themselves enormously, with not a hint of anxiety. Indeed Charlotte told the TV interviewer that both she and Denman would love to have a go in the race, but sadly weren't allowed to... If they had been, they would no doubt have had great fun together, as they do when out teamchasing and hunting. And that's the thing – it would be FUN. Denman has left the ranks of professional racehorses, and is now a fully retrained, and beautifully reschooled, pleasure-riding horse - re-skilled, relaxed, confident, happily occupied, and enjoying life.

Well done Charlotte Alexander, well done Denman! You are an example and encouragement for us all.


Denman and Charlotte Alexander having fun out hunting

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