A RIDE LAURA CHESHIRE WILL NEVER FORGET

By Graham Potter with Laura Cheshire | Monday, August 28, 2017

The things you have to go through for your fifteen seconds of fame.

Ask Laura Cheshire!

Cheshire produced an outstanding exhibition of horsemanship during the sixth race at Murwillumbah on Friday, August 25 ... but it was episode she would have preferred to have done without.

When the bridle broke on Secret Blend soon after the start of the race Cheshire and Secret Blend’s immediate well-being was severely at risk.

Although not everybody watching at the time was acutely aware of the seriousness of the situation, the circumstances were dire and, as such, the possible consequences were fraught with danger.

Ultimately, three laps later, it all ended well in what really should be acknowledged as one of the best examples of horse and rider working together, improvising and cultivating a more intense level of mutual understanding in extraordinary circumstances to achieve the best outcome.

Thankfully, both horse and rider came back safely but it was lonely out there ... riding a racehorse without a bridle ... as evidenced here by Laura Cheshire’s first-hand account from the saddle (talking to HRO's Graham Potter) of a ride she will never forget.

****************************************************************************************************

It all started about fifty metres out of the barriers. I felt my right rein go and I thought, ok, I’ve broken a rein here. Then, probably a stride later I watched the bridle come straight back over the horse’s head and down its neck.

My first thoughts were ... I feel like I’m being punked here. This is a joke.

This cannot actually be happening!

But of course it was. I was looking around and I had to start thinking about what am I going to do.

Robbie Agnew came up on my outside and I said, “my bridle’s broken.” He said, “I can see that.” I said, “can you try and pull me up.” He said, “there is nothing to grab.” Then he said, “I’ll just steer you around the corner. Hang on to your breastplate.”

I was riding in light gear and the breastplate I had was a really light breastplate which I didn’t trust in that situation but I did hang onto that for most of the ‘race’.

You can see in the race it is still attached to the rein and it was hanging down the horse’s shoulder and slapping him on the shoulder.

So, Robbie steered me around the first bend. Once Robbie got me around the home bend he sort of dropped away because he knew that horses were going to be pressing for runs.

***************************************************************************************************

I was thinking about how I could slow my horse down. You could see me try to ease him down in the race up the run-in. I thought if he could slow down enough that, when the other horses were pulling up after the race, he would stop with them.

I think by then everybody knew that I had no bridle. You can see on the actual race replay that Jag (Guthmann-Chester) was slowing in front of me and I was thinking if he slows up enough my horse might stop.

That didn’t happen and then I was just trying to get off heels. I just needed everyone to move out of my way and let me go until my horse wanted to ease up.

I got through those who were pulling up and as I came around the bend, heading up towards the back straight, I called for the pony.

Mozzie Coleman came out to me on the pony and then I realised again what Robbie had pointed out originally ... there was nothing to grab.

So I went from calling to the pony to saying, “just leave him. Just leave him. Just let him run himself out.”

**************************************************************************************************

So we went out again down the back straight.

The steward had come down from the steward’s tower and was standing on the ground watching me and he just stared at me when I went past and I stared at him. There was nothing either of us could do at that stage.

I was now quite close to the outside fence. I thought, ok, we are still going here. I need to get him back towards the inside rail.

I had picked all of my reins and everything up to try and stop anything from hitting him. I thought if he feels anything hitting him then he thinks I’m asking him to go still, so I had everything picked up in my lap and I just sorted started asking him to neck rein up to the inside rail.

I was very surprised when he listened to me.

*************************************************************************************************

I was just putting pressure to the inside and he listened to it and he came back and railed over for me so, when we came in the straight for the second time, we were hard up against the rail.

When we came down the straight I could see that the gate to the unsaddling enclosure was still open because they were still getting the other horses off the track.

I remember my horse turned his head and looked across at the gate and I thought, no, we are not going anywhere near that gate. The ambulance had pulled up where it parks just past the gate I just thought, if he heads for that gate, we are going to crash into that ambulance.

So, I asked him again to come back to the rail. He came back across and we went past the stands a second time. We went back around the corner. Mozzie was there and the barrier boys were across the track.

I just yelled at them to get out of the way. I didn’t want them to try to wave him down because I thought we would get hurt then.

“Get out of the way.”

They all listened and got off the track.

I carried on and then Mozzie was there again. He got right up next to me and he had another look and said, “there is nothing I can grab.”

By this time we had gone half through quarter pace because now my horse was racing the pony so I said to Mozzie, “just ease down the pony and maybe my horse will ease down with you.”

Mozzie eased his pony back and my horse came back to a canter ... and then one of the reins dropped and it got caught around his back leg and he just took off and started kicking out trying to kick the rein off his back leg.

**************************************************************************************************

That was when really thought we were in danger because I thought, if he stood on the rein that was still attached to the strap around his neck ... well I thought, if you stand on the rein you are going to flip us and that’s us done.

I could understand why he was panicking, but I thought, mate ... we’ve just got to chill out because if you flip out we are both going to die.

We would be gone because basically we were bolting at that stage.

Then I felt the rein come loose. As soon as I felt it come loose I bent down and picked it all up again and then he calmed down again ... but with all that happening my saddle had slipped because, when he was trying to kick the rein off, he was turning his body sideways and my saddle when sideways.

So, when we came around the bend for the third time, I was bouncing on the saddle trying to straighten it back up. I got it straight and then I thought, ok, we are coming down the straight for the third time ... we have got to try and sort this out now.

We can’t keep going forever!

**************************************************************************************************

So I thought, well he is listening to my neck rein ... maybe I’ll try and get him to turn up the mile chute. That was a big ask, even with a bridle on to get him to do a u-turn like that, but I thought, what else am I going to do to try and stop him?

I turned him to the side and he got far enough where he faced up to the outside fence and I just leaned back as we approached the fence. He was obviously tired but he went into in half thinking about jumping the fence.

I was just trying to be so negative about the option of him jumping the fence because the horse had picked up basically everything else I had been willing him to do, so I was hoping he would oblige me one last time.

You can see from horseracingonly’s pictures ... he sort of got into the fence but not at any great speed. As soon as he did that and came back I hopped off the side and got the rein around his nose and then I had him under control and was able to walk him back.

I just felt, coming down the straight that last time, that I had to do something. He had done three laps and I just thought, ok, you are not going to stop. Either you are going to drop dead or end up panicking from being so tired and go through a fence.

When my feet finally actually hit the ground he had sort of spun back off the fence and tried to break into a trot.

I’ve had a broken ankle on one side three times and when I hit the ground with my feet I actually felt the jolt and I thought, thank God I didn’t jump off when he was going quicker. I just know if I’d done that I would have ended up injured.

**************************************************************************************************

I have had people say to me, was there any point when you thought you might just jump off.

I did briefly think about that when he slowed up to half pace but it wasn't really an option for me. I had everything in my hands. I knew if I jumped, everything I was holding onto would go under his legs ... and if everything went under his legs he is going to panic with possible disastrous consequences so I wasn’t prepared tp leave him by himself because I felt that me sticking with him was keeping him calm.

Accidents do happen on occasions but if I had jumped ship and the horse had ended up going through a rail and got hurt, I would put that weight on myself because I would know I could have done more.

Ultimately I am in this game because I love horses and not just because I want to win races.

The funny thing is that the horse is not a quiet horse in track-work. He’s not an easy ride. He’d be pulling around the track. He throws his head ... yet somehow he behaved so well in this situation.

I know he was looking for direction from me but he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t pulling him up ... and, if I’m not pulling him up, he thought it was his job to keep going and that’s what he did.

***************************************************************************************************

Hitting the ground and just being able to get that rein back over his nose was a great feeling.

As soon as I got that rein around his nose he just looked at me.

I could see the relief in his face. It was just like he was saying, thank God you’ve got something on me now.

What was that all about?

At the end of the day, as much as I tried to look after the horse ... the horse looked after me even more.

That horse could have done anything he liked for three laps. He could have made bad decisions with bad consequences. He could have put both of us through a fence and maybe we wouldn’t have walked away from that ... but, instead, he kept me safe.

I honestly believe he was just asking me to guide him and listening to me when I did.

*************************************************************************************************

It is amazing though what strange thoughts can go through your mind when you find yourself in a dangerous position. In fact, looking back, they are pretty funny.

When I’d lost the bridle and was going out of the bend for the first time by myself after the race, I thought about Sheree Drake who was injured at Lismore recently.

I had put a call out to all the female jockeys who ride with her to put in ten bucks each to get her some very nice flowers and to get her something while she was in hospital.

My first thought going out of that back-straight was ... oh no, who’s going to buy Sheree’s flowers and things. The money’s in my account. I’ll just have to try and stay on because I’ve got to buy those flowers and I’ve got to go to the hospital tomorrow to see her.

It’s just crazy the stuff that goes through your head at times that that ... but then it quickly was back to focussing on trying to cope with the situation.

I’d come to the Cup meeting very enthusiastic and I was feeling great when I kicked off with an early winner, but little was I to know that it was going to turn into a significant day in my career in a way which had nothing to with the result of any race.

I’ve been riding horses since I was nine years old and I’ve always tried to work together with horses. I’ve had some difficult horses to deal with in my time so I have had a fair bit of experience doing that ... but definitely nothing like this.

I’m just so pleased it ended the way it did.

More articles