Heavy Horse Showjumping -
I got chatting to David Coffen at a Midlands Heavy Horse Meeting when we were both on the committee and he asked me if I knew the Heffers being I was telling him about my showjumping days as they used to live in the same village as him down south. I told him we did as Mr Heffer had sponsored some of the classes I had jumped in. On one memorable ocaasion I told him Mr Heffer was extremely good with us. We had qualified for the Hickstead Jumior Championship and two weeks before we went to Coppice Acres, Nr Tamworth, to jump their Junior Championship in preparation for Hickstead as it was classed as a mini Hickstead. Everyone was there including both Philip Heffer who we had to wait for as Mr Heffer had sponsored the class. We jumped the warm up class which we got placed in and then the Championship Class started. I went in the ring and as I approached the first fence I got the feeling something was very wrong as my normally whizzy pony hardly made it to the other side. He had lost all of his energy and I could feel that he was not even going to attempt the second fence as he got slower and slower. I pulled him up at the second and got off him as I could feel him buckling below me. I came out of the ring almost in tears as I heard someone shout get the vet straight away and Ann you get him to the horsebox. As I lead him to our lorry he walked slower and slower and came to an abrupt stop at the side of the box. By this time the whole showground had come to a halt and everyone was wondering what had happened. I remember looking towards the ring as they announced that the next competitor was Philip Heffer to see Mr Heffer striding towards us to see what was wrong with our pony. Just then the vet arrived and started to examine him. The diagnosis was that it was probably a virus as the deterioration of the pony had been so rapid. He advised us to travel him home immediately and get our vet out as soon as possible. We got him home and Charlie Windridge came to see him and said it was a virus something similar to what he had seen in racehorses. But he hadn't known it to hit so fast before however he concluded that strangles were doing the rounds at that time so it could be a related virus. He gave him some strong antibiotics and told us he would be back at 8am the next morning. The next day he was just examining the pony when Mum came into the stable to see if he would be ok as Judy Edwards was on the phone from Coppice Acres. He'll be fine said Charlie, but he will need 6 months rest to get over this. Mum told Judy this who was very pleased to hear he would be ok and she would ring Mr Heffer as he had rung her early which is why she was calling so early. Mum told her to thenk Mr Heffer very much for his concern and we hoped Philip wins at Hickstead. Judy told her she would convey the message and rang off thanking Mum for her time. David Coffen sat listening to the tale with interest and told me that it sounded just the sort of thing Mr Heffer would do. He never told me if he had seen the Heffer's at all but the next time I went to the then Bass Museum there was a pint of diet coke waiting for me at the bar and a surprised friend of Davids telling me he had wondered who that drink was for as David had ordered it 15 minutes ago.