Prince Harry's polo horse injury probe
PRINCE Harry’s treatment of a polo pony is to be discussed at an animal welfare meeting involving representatives of every polo club in the country.
Pictures in yesterday’s Daily Express showing Harry on a bloodied pony injured by his spurs, have prompted a senior official at the sport’s governing body, the Hurlingham Polo Association, to launch an informal inquiry into the incident.
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David Morley, Hurlingham’s chairman of pony welfare, said he was seeking answers to a list of questions, but hoped to have completed his inquiries by next Monday, when the 54 clubs around the country are expected to discuss the affair at the association’s autumn welfare meeting.
“It’s something that’s bound to come up at the meeting,” he said, adding that the association was taking the incident seriously.
“I don’t at all think ‘What is all the fuss about’, because we are very hot on the welfare of ponies.”
Animal welfare charities have accused Harry, 25, of cruelty after his spurs inflicted the bloody wound on the grey pony. They called for them to be banned from the sport because of the danger to the animals in such a fast-moving event.
However, the third in line to the throne is unlikely to face any disciplinary action and is expected to be cleared of excessive use of the spurs. Mr Morley, who has talked to the vet who examined the horse immediately after the incident at Guards Polo Club in Windsor Great Park on July 11, insisted the evidence pointed to the wound being caused by a collision with another rider.
“My gut feeling is that something has pushed the spur into the pony. It was only on one side of the pony. If it had been caused by excessive use of the spurs, you would have expected to find it on both sides,” he said.
The injury, according to the vet, was also not as bad as it looked and was only an abrasion that was fine 20 minutes later.
Harry has a reputation for pushing his polo ponies to the limit. A friend of the Royal Family last night said: “Off the field, they are pets but on the field they are machines.
“The best riders tend to be careless, if I can put it that way, to get the most out of the horse.
“I always think Prince William is too cautious and his game suffers as a result, but Harry is more careless and as a result, is a better player.
“But neither of them would ever go beyond what is acceptable. They don’t use whips and wouldn’t be excessive with spurs. They are both very sentimental about the horses.”
