‘He’s our little miracle’: from orphan foal to HOYS showjumping finalist

Lining up for Wednesday’s senior newcomers showjumping championship at Horse of the Year Show (HOYS) 2024 (9–13 October) is the brilliant gelding Joe Malone, who has beaten all the odds to get there.

Described by his devoted owner Nikki Freeman as her “little miracle”, Joey was orphaned at birth.

“His mother Velvet II was a really good horse, we competed her up to 1.35m and she was very consistent, very careful,” explains Nikki. “So when she did a tendon, we thought we’d have a foal from her.”

Nikki and her father Carl Freeman breed a few foals every year, and Carl, having spotted the signs that Velvet’s foal’s arrival was imminent, was with the mare when tragedy struck.

“She gave one big push and died,” remembers Nikki. “We now know that actually she’d prolapsed but we didn’t know that at the time. But the foal was still completely inside her at this point.”

The local vet was called but with a 40 minute journey time, they gave Carl instructions to help get Joey out urgently.

“He was told to put his arms inside her and use every last bit of his strength – they said you just need to pull and keep pulling,” says Nikki. “He had nothing to lose, because the foal was going to die if he stayed in there anyway. But they told him it needed to be sooner rather than later because everything was closing down now that the mare has died.

“I guess in those moments you find every last bit of strength, don’t you? So Dad got him out and luckily he was absolutely fine. Because it could have been horrendous.”

Hunt for a foster mare

Nikki and her dad managed to draw some colostrum from the mare and, as cattle farmers, they happened to have a cow teat which they used to feed the bay colt, allowing him a much-needed “kick-start”.

“When the vet arrived they checked him over and couldn’t believe it, but he seemed absolutely fine,” says Nikki.

They fed the foal with a milk formula for the first couple of days before, by “the wonders of Facebook”, they managed to find a foster mare for the colt.

“We were put in touch with the owners of a 13hh coloured cob whose foal was stillborn, so we collected the mare from London and dropped her at the vet’s where she had an injection to induce ‘labour’ so she thought she’d foaled him,” explains Nikki. “It just worked, it was amazing.”

The next hurdle, however, came when Joey tried to drink milk from the foster mare.

“She was only 13hh and the same size as this foal, so he couldn’t get to her teat. We thought, ‘What’s he going to do?’” recalls Nikki. “He was trying his hardest but you could see him thinking, ‘I’m not getting any milk here’. Then he just worked it out by getting down on his knees.”

Joey stayed with the mare full-term, by which point he was “towering over her”.

“He was massive next to her!” says Nikki.

“I think just because of those first couple of days where we were ‘Mum’ to Joey, he was always a bit over-friendly with us, even as a two-year-old – he had no fear. So we put him out in the field with our other young horses and we let him go feral for a bit. Now, you would never know he was any different.”

Joe Malone: named after their favourite perfume

Joey was given his competition name Joe Malone after Nikki and her mother’s favourite perfume.

“His mother Velvet was called Jo at home and we were so sad when she died we thought we need to do something to remember her, so we called her foal Joey,” says Nikki.

“He’s by Fruselli, who my dad actually backed for his previous owners, and he said Fruselli was very sharp to back and Joey was exactly the same, very like his dad in many ways.

“Dad always said that once we could get on top of Joey’s sharpness he’d be a good one – Dad once fell off him twice during a 15min hack, he’s that sharp. But he knew he’d be good when he grew up and he hasn’t been wrong.”

Both Nikki and Carl produced Joey through his early competitions and neighbouring rider Emma Sargeant took the reins when Nikki was pregnant with her second child. He has racked up consistent results throughout, including qualifying for this year’s newcomers championship at HOYS.

HOYS showjumping: “I’m so nervous”

The whole family will be in Birmingham on Wednesday to watch Emma Sargeant and Joe Malone competing in the newcomers championship alongside 23 other finalists.

“I’m so nervous. We’re just ecstatic to have got there, so there’s no pressure on the night, but then again when you have a horse as good as him, you think he could be in with a chance, which does bring its own pressure,” she says.

“Emma is a fantastic jockey – he’d never really gone against the clock before she got on him. He’s strong but always moving – there’s always an engine there – so in the jump-off you can just let him roll. The more you dare him, the more careful he is.

“He means so much to us and my dad has put so much time and money into it, so it’s lovely for him – he’ll be as proud as punch.

“Joey is our little miracle.”

• To stay up to date with all the breaking news throughout Horse of the Year Show, London International and more, subscribe to the Horse & Hound website

You may also enjoy reading: