Petplan Equine Area Festivals never fail to bring against the odds stories to the fore. Felicity Carter explains how her mount, Teddy’s Carte Noire, earned a top 10 placing despite suffering from ulcers as well as an accident in the build up
SOMETIMES IT CAN feel like everything is against us when our horse has an injury or we have an illness that stops us from reaching our riding goals.
Felicity Carter and her horse, Teddy’s Carte Noire (also known as Wilby), have quite a story to tell about their journey to the Petplan Equine Area Festival Winter Championships at Hartpury College earlier this year, but everyone can take inspiration from what they both went through to get there.
Felicity tells their story: “I have known Wilby all his life. My best friend bred him and I had ridden his mum. It seems quite amazing looking back that we should end up together and have actually made it all the way to the championships. It wasn’t easy. I lost my horse of a lifetime in 2020 and I really missed riding and, despite having three children, I still felt a bit lost. So my friend, Rita Rendo-Castro, who still owned Wilby, suggested that I ride him. He had been known to be a tricky character, but he had no malice in him and so I decided to give him a go.
“Gradually I rode him more regularly and I made it a bit of a mission to get to the bottom of why he was so difficult. By then I had started to do a little bit of competing with him and, despite him having his moments, he was doing well and we actually qualified for an Area Festival in 2021 at Prelim Silver level.”
In the meantime, Wilby was diagnosed with ulcers by the vet and was put on medication.
“Just as we were able to go out and about again, he had an accident in the field. Somehow he managed to pull off his boots, and this caused friction burns. This meant that he had to be bandaged and have three months off to fully recover,” says Felicity.
“In 2022 we were back out again competing at prelim and novice level when he was found to have arthritis in his hocks. This was treated and he was soon sound and back to competition. We even managed to get enough points to qualify for the Area Festivals again. By the time we got to the 2022 Area Festival we hadn’t done very much that summer, so we had no expectations at all. I was just so happy that we were able to actually go. Wilby did a really lovely test and finished eighth with 68%. I was over the moon, but wasn’t thinking about going to the championships at all.”
In the meantime, Felicity noticed that some of Wilby’s quirky habits were returning and she asked the vet to check him.
“Unfortunately the ulcers had returned and so he went back on the medication,” she adds. “My vet was ama
