Ears pricked attentively forward, healthy coat shining brightly in the sun, MLHR Jensen looked like he was bred to compete alongside the best horses in the world as he placed fourth in his class in Dublin Horse Show.
But just five years ago, that same horse was saved from the pound in Cork by My Lovely Horse Rescue, riddled with worms, cowering and emaciated.
“Without treatment, he would have died,” Kelly Mellerick, volunteer with My Lovely Horse Rescue in Cobh, Co Cork, said.
Seized in Cork on June 28, 2019, and taken to the pound, at just nine months old MLHR Jensen, also called Sebastian, had already “lost his spark” and lacked the usual vitality of a young horse.
“You could see his ribs. The worms were so bad,” Ms Mellerick said. “He was seized by Cork County Council and put in the pound. Unclaimed after five days he would have risked being euthanised.
“The pound tell us when animals are close to being euthanised. He was one of four we took out that day and we gave him this new lifeline.”
With veterinary intervention, care and proper feeding, the colt rallied.
When his now owner, Kelsie Ferguson, came to see him it was love at first sight.
“She took one look at him and said ‘I love him.’ She instantly saw his potential.”
Because Sebastian is a trotter, he had to be taught other gaits more commonly used by riding horses.
“When trotters are retrained they can do phenomenal things as riding horses. He is testament to that. But the breed is often just discarded.”
Although only nine months old when he was seized and sent to the pound, it is very likely he was used for sulky racing, Ms Mellerick said.
Equines as young as three months old have come into My Lovely Horse having been used in sulky races.
“They have them under sulky traps very young, with a full set of shoes on them,” Ms Mellerick said.
“You see the rub marks from the harnesses on their little bodies.
“They tack them up when they’re so young and vulnerable they can’t possibly fight at all.
“Luckily he was seized when he was or he could have been out racing on those roads.
“He could have broken down very young — where their joints get so overused as babies it damages them for life.”
But Sebastian’s legs survived and he “learned to trust again” with the kindness and patient care of Kelsie.
“They’ve been winning competitions all around Cork. But this was the first time a My Lovely Horse rescue ever made it to Dublin Horse Show.
“He was once a discarded baby trotter now looking so worthy in that ring. He looked every bit as good as all these horses that are bred specifically for showing.
“And the trust and confidence he’s built up through Kelsie. He’s only seven but he went around that ring, around the RDS with all those crowds without flinching. He was placed fourth in his [coloured horse] class, alongside a horse that competes internationally.
“It just goes to show that rescues can have real potential. They can compete alongside well-bred horses from big stud farms.”
Although Sebastian was a rescue, Kelsie Ferguson said that he has helped her overcome difficulties in her own life too.
She was “on a bit of a downer” before finding Sebastian because her own horse was getting older and slowing down and she knew she would have to find another horse to replace him.
But as soon as she saw Sebastian and his “love me” eyes, she knew she had found another horse she really wanted.
“The second I saw him I knew that he had to come home. He was really tall, black and white — the same as my other horse. His legs just seemed to go on forever and he had this look in his eye that didn’t necessarily say ‘help me’ but it was just like ‘love me.’”
Sebastian has also helped her settle into Ireland and find her own community, having moved from her home outside Oxford in the UK to be with her husband on his dairy farm outside Bandon.
“He’s really made me slot in. We’re out doing the showing, doing the dressage. I’ve met so many people through him and I now have my own life in Ireland.”
Sebastian has “probably been the easiest horse” Kelsie’s ever had as he “just goes with the flow.”
“There’s no badness in him at all. He’s such a straightforward character.
“I broke him myself and he’s never thrown me off, he’s never bucked, never spooked in two years of riding him.”
Sebastian now rides dressage to elementary level and won the ‘Champion Colour’ title at this year’s Cork Summer Show.
Although he was coming first or second in shows across Munster, Kelsie was not expecting him to place in the RDS this summer.
“I knew he would still stand up beside those horses. I knew he was still going to shine. I just didn’t go there with any expectation.
“When our class was on, the Aga Khan [international showjumping competition] was on in the main arena. So every time somebody got a clear round, the whole stadium cheered. It was enough to send a shiver through me as a rider — thousands of people making a roar of noise. But Sebastian was cool as a cucumber.
“I was so proud of him, not just getting a rosette but how he reacts to everything and takes everything in his stride.
“And I think it’s a testament to horses like him. Because there’s so many horses out there that are ridiculously well bred. You know, people spend thousands and thousands to try to create the perfect horse.
“And he has none of that. He has no breeding. And yet, he can do everything.”
Once a rescue horse realises that a human is there to help them and not hurt them, they can give so much more back than other horses, Ms Ferguson said.
“Some of them have horrendous stories, but once they have figured out to trust you, you get so much more back from a rescue horse than you would from another horse. I feel like they try that little bit harder for you.”
Summer has been busy for My Lovely Horse in both their Cork and Kildare rescue centres, Ms Mellerick said.
“People have been discarding foals. And it’s always the boys — colt foals,” she said.
“We took in Elvie in Cork two months ago who was only about four days old. He didn’t’ know where he was or what was going on, the poor little thing.
“We had a tough time trying to get him to latch onto the bottle, he had to be fed every two hours, around the clock, to survive. When you’re a volunteer and you still have to go to your day job, you’re up against it.
“But he’s a clever boy and he had a real will to live and he’s thriving now.”
The charity is always in need of donations, especially approaching winter with high fodder costs and 400 horses to feed with more arriving all the time.
It is also making its annual appeal for people to foster a rescue horse or two over the winter months to save the charity space and some cash.
The Cork facility has no jeep-type vehicle to pull horseboxes or trailers so is reliant on expensive rentals. Ms Mellerick called for anyone with a vehicle and horse box to occasionally help with transport
Go to mylovelyhorserescue.com to donate or for more information.
