The owner of a horse who suffered a catastrophic hindleg fracture but has returned to showjumping victory has paid tribute to the mare’s character – and shared her story to give hope to others.
Abbie Shackell’s mare Moet, who was seven at the time, broke her cannon bone in January 2024. Surgery was not an option as the damage was too severe. But by the end of the autumn that year, Moet was back in the ring, and has gone from strength to strength since.
“I call her a miracle horse, because I don’t know how she’s managed it,” Abbie told H&H. “She’s the loveliest horse in the world, not a bad bone in her body, which is probably how she’s managed to come back.”
Abbie had bought Moet, her “dream horse”, as a two-year-old and put in all the years of work so they were winning in the ring.
Then in January 2024, Moet came in from the field with a wound in her hindleg.
“It was quite deep but she was only a little bit lame on it,” Abbie said. “I sent a picture to my vet and he said he thought it should heal on its own, but a week later, I rang him and said it wasn’t closing up. He came out, and could feel it was broken, so he took an X-ray, and it was in quite a state.”
Abbie said Moet had been walking around in the yard comfortably, hardly lame, before the vet arrived.
“We all sat there for a while, he was looking at the X-ray, and looking at her, and thinking, ‘I don’t know how she’s even standing on it’,” Abbie said. “If someone had sent you that X-ray, you’d have said ‘That horse has no chance’.
“We asked about surgical options and he said it was almost in too many pieces. You couldn’t put it back together because it went in four different directions, it was in too many bits to pin. I truly believe a different vet might have said ‘Nothing can be done here’; it was horrendous and I thought that was going to be it, she wouldn’t recover.”
But the vet took into account the fact Moet was able to bear weight, and was very sensible, and said “Let’s give it a go”. He splinted the leg, and the mare spent some time in cross-ties, then on general box rest with a very deep, big bed.
‘It was like she knew’
“It was like she knew,” Abbie said. “She just stood there and was good as gold. She just must have known what she had to do, because every time she got up, she was really careful. She didn’t put any weight on it, she didn’t do anything silly in the stable, even when we first turned her out, she’s a competition horse, but she just went out and was really calm. She’s just amazing, she’s got such a nice attitude, and I think that’s the thing that saved her.”
But the vet was hopeful that if the bone healed, Moet would be able to get back to doing what she loved.
“He said if it worked and it all came back together, she should be fine, and have a career, do everything,” Abbie said. “Everyone who asked me, I said what he’d said, and they all looked at me like I was stupid. I was thinking ‘Am I? Is she going to come back, or not?’ And she has.”
After about eight months, X-rays showed the bone had healed, and Abbie was given the go-ahead to start the long process of bringing her back into work, including plenty of water treadmill sessions and strengthening.
Rehabilitation
“It was just a case of mainly building her fitness once the bone had healed,” she said. “I put her on some really good feed, and tried to help boost her nutrition-wise but she was so sensible, and it healed quite quickly. But I do think that if another vet had looked at it, they’d have said ‘No’. She’s a lucky girl.
“When we went back to a show, my mum and I were both in tears,” she said. “It was only a 90cm but she went in the same as a year before and was as good as gold. We were both crying, and it took three or four outings every time, I couldn’t believe she had gone round.”
Moet built her fitness and stepped back up; she jumped – and won – her first 1.30m in May, and has been placed at almost every show this year.
“Even then, I thought ‘I don’t know how you’re alive, let alone winning’,” Abbie said. “Even if we have a bad round, which is rare on her because she’s such an honest horse, I still think, ‘Well, she’s on the box, she’s alive, which is more than what we thought we’d have.
“And I hope that seeing her come back from this might give someone some hope, because it’s so devastating when the horse gets injured. She’s a truly remarkable horse to come back from such a catastrophic injury the way she has.”
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