1984 Sefton comes to Lacey Green (biography)

Several articles were printed in Hallmark about the Home of Rest for Horses created at Speen Farm in 1971. Click the following for more :-

Home of Rest for Horses by Walter Stein.

1982 Horses killed in I.R.A. Bombing. Copy of letter in The Horses Trust magazine

1986 Celebrating the Centenary of the First Home of Rest for Horses. by Miles Marshall.

2011 Home of Rest for Horses Updated. copy of a newsletter by Peter Larson of The Horses Trust.

The Biography of Sefton. Reported by Joan West information taken from national news and local knowledge

SEFTON  

A BRITISH ARMY HORSE

Sefton served with the British army from the age of 4 years until he was 21years old.    He was not an easy ride.   Soldiers did not learn on him, but to ride him was offered to the best pupils as a reward.   He spent time in Germany with the army.    He competed in the army show jumping team.    At the age of 12, he was posted to London to work in the Household Cavalry.

IRA BOMBING See 1982 Horses killed in I.R.A. Bombing

July 20^th 1982.   Sefton was among 15 horses on their way to take part in the ceremony of the Changing of the Guard.   When crossing Hyde Park, an IRA bomb, planted in a car, was detonated.   Four soldiers died.   All the horses were injured, seven so badly that they were put down at the spot.   Of the others, Sefton was the worst injured.   He had a severed jugular vein, a wounded eye, and 34 severe body wounds.   Sefton’s initial emergency operation lasted 90 minutes and he was given a 50/50 chance of recovery.    In total he was to have 8 hours of surgery.

PUBLIC RESPONSE The attack filled the news.   Sefton, in particular had struck a chord with the public.  Donations of over £620 were sent, and a new surgical wing at the Royal Veterinary College was named after him.

RECOVERY. Sefton slowly recovered.   Eventually he re-joined the regiment, still with his same trooper, Michael Pederson, who had also been injured.   That year he was awarded “Horse of the Year” at the “Horse of the Year Show”.

RETIREMENT. In August 1984 Sefton retired to the Home of Rest for Horses at Speen Farm, Lacey Green, aged 21, where the public came from far and wide to visit him.   In 1993, having been nursed and lovingly looked after for eleven years, he had to be put down due to incurable lameness.

STATUE & AWARD. A statue of Sefton now stands at the Royal Veterinary College, his name is in the British Horse Society’s equestrian Hall of Fame, with an annual award named after him.

Hallmark 1990. The best know horse at the Home of Rest for Horses, Speen Farm has recently undergone a successful operation to have more bomb fragments removed. These he received during the IRA bomb attack of 1982 in Hyde Park.

Also see 2011 Home of Rest for Horses Updated.