NHC Horses, where are they now… Rory (Mythical Son)

It’s always great to see previous National Horseracing College horses thriving in their retirement, and Rory is no exception!

Racing career and life at the NHC for Rory

Rory wasn’t a very talented horse on the track, as he only had 9 starts before he was retired, but his best performance was a 4th in a Novice Chase at Leicester. He arrived as an 8/10-year-old and was a great big gentle giant. He was used for the inexperienced riders, teaching them how to lead a string to maintain their position and balance, both on the gallops and in the indoor school.

He was also used for our specialist courses and loved to jump over the obstacles and showed great versatility. He was also taken to the St Leger RoR parade one year, where he got to strut his stuff one more time on the track. As Rory got older he became less tolerant of unbalanced riders and would occasionally throw in a buck to almost tell the rider to pay attention and stop bouncing around. We then decided that Rory might enjoy the lifestyle that comes with Doncaster Equine College our sister college and transitioned into his new job, before finding his forever home.

Where is Rory now?

Already home to four retired racehorses, Ishela’s Girl, Judge Advocate, The Loose Screw and Magic Fizz, Mythical Son (Rory) arrived at his forever home with Julia Kajtar just two months ago (June 2020). Rory has been turned away with his new friends and he settled in straight away as though he had been there for years! Rory a friendly, happy and sometimes cheeky horse soon realised he had won the lottery as far as forever homes go! Julia likes to give older retired racehorses a forever home in a holistic environment, going barefoot, on a high fibre diet and 24/7 turnout living as a herd enjoying weekend hacks out. Julia was initially going to give Rory a year off work as he had been such a workhorse at both colleges and bring him into work next spring but as he has adapted so well to a relaxed, natural lifestyle, that Julia decided to crack on!