Amateur handler and rescue pony team up to qualify for a national showpiece
An amateur show handler and his rescue pony RSPCA Jerry will strut their stuff on the national stage in November after qualifying for a prestigious championship.
Paul Charnley, who is from Market Drayton, and Jerry have booked their ticket to Your Horse Live Championship in Warwickshire later this year.
Charnley and four-year-old Jerry prevailed best in class SEIB Search for a Star In-Hand Rescue Horse of Pony, in association with the Rescue Equine Showing Society, at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.
Jerry was rescued as a new-born as part of a dog operation in the Covid lockdown of 2020, when a team was investigating two containers. One contained 20 dogs and the other two ponies - Tom and Jerry. Tom sadly did not survive and Jerry was taken to the RSPCA, who recovered and eventually rehomed him.
"The RSPCA did a fantastic job with Jerry and we have now owned him for one year," Charnley said.
The handler's son Theo has ridden the family's other rescue pony, RSPCA George, to success in 26 dressage championships.
"What I love the most about the story is that the money Theo and George won at the British Dressage Winter Championships paid for Jerry's RSPCA adoption fee," Charnley added.
"We'd never done showing before and its proving brilliant for getting Jerry out to see the world In-Hand. We're currently breaking him in and he is loving being ridden too. The plan is for Theo to start doing some dressage on him when he is ready."
Search for a Star is 30 years old next year and offers opportunities for a full range of show horses to earn a place at the series championships at Horse of the Year Show and Your Horse Live.
SEIB Search for a Star organiser Nicolina MacKenzie said: "What a start to the season for Search for a Star and Racehorse to Riding Horse. There was such a positive atmosphere and the standard of horses and ponies coming forward was fabulous to see. We are delighted to see rescue pony Jerry qualify for Your Horse Live."
