Equestrian
Hero of the horse world
It’s been joked that horse
transporter David Corney
is a kind of equestrian
equivalent to a London
cabbie - thanks to his
insider knowledge of the
Island’s maze of horse
and pony yards.
It’s a knowledge that he’s built up
over more than four decades, and
was just one of the reasons why
he was recently honoured by the
Island branch of the British Horse
Society, as the first recipient of a
brand new Equestrian Hero Award.
David, who followed his late
father Alan into the animal
transport business, started helping
out as a schoolboy, when the job
involved ferrying everything from
sheep, pigs and chickens to horses
and ponies.
He left school and started
training as a butcher, but still
worked evenings and weekends
for his dad.
“Any chance I could get, I always
wanted to be in the lorry!” he says.
Being limited to evenings and
weekends meant he naturally
got most of the horse jobs, from
collecting and delivering animals
for sale and taking them to shows,
through to vet visits and routine
operations.
David has a fund of tales, such as
the time he provided transport for
a family moving to Scotland with
their mini-menagerie: on arrival he
threw open the doors of the Luton
to find a cage door had opened in
transit, and all the chickens were
happily roosting on the backs of
the horses!
As he says, no two days are ever
the same in his job, which is why
he still loves it, 48 years on.
There’s also the challenge of
handling horses who can present
as stubborn, unpredictable or just
frightened.
“With experience you learn
to take things gently. If a horse
doesn’t want to go, there’s no point
pulling from the head end – your
job has to be done from the back!”
David still lives in the Newchurch
family home that was originally
occupied by his grandfather as a
tenant farmer, who purchased it
from Lord Alverstone. He has 10
ponies of his own, some of which
are ridden by his daughter Lucy
and his granddaughter Imogen.
Others, including a 35 year-old,
are happily retired.
There’s no retirement on the
horizon for David though, who still
loves the job that’s been his life.
“You do get some tussles, but
there’s always a real buzz from
getting the horses in”.
Of the Equestrian Hero Award,
he says: “My wife Anita knew
about it, but kept it secret. She
took us out on the pretence of
getting a takeaway, then said on
the way that we had to pick up a
trophy my daughter had won -
so I was pretty surprised when it
turned out to be for me!
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