PONY Tales wishes journalist Louise Parkes a speedy recovery after a nasty riding accident recently left her with a badly broken femur. Louise was simply riding her lovely cob at home in the arena when he spooked and came down on top of her. Crucially, Louise was wearing her air vest, a gift from her husband Tony for Christmas, which she says undoubtedly saved her life.

Despite being on crutches and needing a wheelchair at times to battle through the crowds, Louise couldn’t be kept away from the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show, where she was conducting the press conferences and also working tirelessly on this year’s special exhibition in the RDS library.