Page 163 - The History of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps 1962–2021

THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL ARMY VETERINARY CORPS 1962 – 2021
eight other injuries, mostly deep puncture wounds caused partially by the pine-needle-spray-fire effect of four-inch nails. Sefton found peace in the countryside to heal his mental scars, although a few of the physical mementoes of that fateful July morning two years earlier, remained in him. A piece of crude shrapnel was still lodged in his left shoulder, the scar in his neck, that had poured blood after the blast, was still plain to see.
After three weeks’ veterinary attention in the Sick Lines at Hyde Park Barracks, Sefton and his seven stable mates were prescribed caring conva- lescence in the hands of the RAVC veterinary team at Melton Mowbray. It was September before he returned to the Household Division’s stables where he completed his recovery and continued to enjoy his growing fame as a charity worker, TV star and genuine hero in his own right. The gallant gelding helped raise £40,000 for the Army Benevolent Fund mostly through the sale of commemorative medallions, pennants, plates, and porcelain bearing his image.
Sefton’s courage was the subject of two books. He appeared twice on BBC TV’s “Blue Peter” children’s magazine programme and in October 1982 was awarded the title Horse of The Year at Wembley, earning a well-deserved British Horse Society medal. His exceptional resilience as a military animal made him the ideal choice to open the Imperial War Museum’s “Animals at War” exhibition in 1983. That same year he carried a Farrier Corporal, in a ceremonial capacity, to fulfil his Musical Ride role as best he could during his recovery.
This war horse made his final appearance ‘in uniform’ at the Trooping the Colour in June 1984, with his rider Trooper Pedersen, in the saddle. The gaze of thousands of supporters fell upon Sefton as he was “marched out” after seventeen years’ service, including Detmold, BAOR, in 1969. He was ready for his retirement alongside fellow Household Cavalry bombing victim Yeti, and the beautiful grey Metropolitan Police horse injured that day, Echo.
In retirement, Sefton made the odd celebrity appearance – although a Household Cavalry horse box had to be sent to transport him – he trusted no other! In June he was present when Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne opened, and named after him, The Sefton Surgical Wing of the Equine Hospital of the Royal Veterinary College in Hatfield. But, in general, public appearances beyond his home at Speen Farm were over for one of the most famous horses of the decade. That was
according to Brig John Spurry, Secretary of the Home of Rest for Horses, and former Director of the Army Veterinary and Remount Service from 1976 – 1978, as he explained:
“We are inundated with requests for him to open a fete, this or that. If he did that, he would not be able to delight our thousands of visitors who make special trips here to see him. It is not unusual to have four hundred cars here at a weekend. We could have him on the road all the time, but we would be moving around like a dose of salts. We are now adamantly refusing to let him out.”
In his prime, Sefton’s stable companions were only his fellow Household Cavalry mounts but in retirement the stable quad and the spacious paddocks offered up new friends including polo ponies, police horses, pit ponies, four former KT RHA gun carriage horses, and a half-dozen more retired Household Cavalry horses. There he rubbed along with tired rag-and-bone cart horses enjoying a well-earned rest and docile seafront donkeys grateful for a chance to enjoy the coolness of the grass beneath their feet. Some were there for retirement, others for recuperation. Yet more were victims recovering from neglect.4
For a horse used to a working routine, Sefton was happy to slip into a new retirement schedule that offered a few added perks including the company of a mare or two! In an article for Soldier Magazine in 1986, Graham Smith described a typical day in retirement for Sefton:
“Sefton’s £15-a-week stay starts early each day. Reveille-cum-breakfast is at 0600 – or 6 am in his “civvy street” setting – with chaff, nuts, and bran.
It is estimated by Mr Les Butler, formerly Sgt Butler, an RAVC Melton Mowbray riding instructor for six-and-a-half years until demob in 1952, that Sefton gets through 10 kilos of hay a day (the Rest Home makes 200 tonnes of its own annually), five pounds of bran and two pounds of oats. Two hours later, his personal groom, Diane Cutler turns the 16.1-hand-high gelding into the paddock for three-and-a-half hours.
Sefton, however, is well-endowed with innate horse sense. If it is raining he stands at the gate at 9 am waiting for re-admittance to the comfort of his stable!
Customary grooming follows. Then lunch. Afterwards comes the highlight for some of the world’s most loved horses. By 2pm all are ready for their visitors – allowed until 4pm daily into the quadrangle housing eighty-five loose boxes.
The equestrian aficionados of all ages crowd in with apples, pieces of carrot, Polo mints and, of course, sugar lumps. The horses, conscious of the clock and constant
4 Soldier Magazine dated 8th September 1986.
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