Naomi Stevens and her 16.1hh mare Chloe have had a successful time show jumping and have shared a happy life together for just over 10 years.
In October last year both Naomi and her 27-year-old Irish Draught cross Thoroughbred were involved in a nasty accident, where they both fell as Naomi tried to open a gate and Chloe tried to jump it.
As they crashed to the floor Chloe laid there for half an hour, leaving Naomi to think she had lost her horse. With both in shock, Chloe suddenly got up and luckily the fall only resulted in a few cuts.
Chloe behaved perfectly while she received experienced care from everyone involved but unfortunately for the first two weeks of her recovery from the accident she did not do very well.
Said Naomi: “Twelve months later and she is looking incredible, you would never know how awful things were.
“Even after the crash I thought we might lose her, but we are both back in light work and went to our first post-accident show a couple of weeks ago where we won both the in hand and ridden veteran, got two clear rounds and came third in the championship.”
The judges were very flattering about Chloe and how great she was which made Naomi very emotional about how far they had come since their accident.
“I tried TopSpec Senior Lite after we started coming back into work, as I wanted to do everything I could to keep her happy, and she looks and feels amazing, it really has made a massive difference.”
At the moment Naomi and Chloe like to take it easy going on hacks and occasionally attending shows but according to Naomi, her beloved Chloe thrives on work and is definitely not the retiring type, so they plan to take things one step at a time.
“I am so grateful to have her, she’s my best friend and I hope it stays that way for a very long time. Certainly I never take anything for granted anymore and I just enjoy spending all the time I can with her. Everyone who knows her loves her very much,” she added.