IRON RULER

The super-talented ex-racehorse

- DANIELLA MACHINE

Few of us could have failed to notice Daniella Machine and her rather spectacular Thoroughbred, Iron Ruler, on the show circuit. Here we chat to Daniella, who tells us the story of this wonderful horse.

TELL US A BIT ABOUT IRON RULER AND HOW YOU CAME TO HAVE HIM.

Iron was originally Michaela’s (my sister) horse. Michaela had a wonderful TB x WB called Le Grand Garcon, aka Big Boy, who had taken her as far as he could. They were jumping 1.20m, competing in Open Working Hunter, Open equitation, Elementary dressage and Open eventing, so they really were doing well! Yet, he had really reached his full potential, so my mother started looking for another horse for her and put the word out that we were looking for a tall horse for Michaela.

A friend of ours heard via another friend that there was a tall ex Zimbabwean Thoroughbred racehorse – 16 years old – who had jumped in the 1.10m classes and was currently on a farm doing nothing. She said we could check him out if we were interested. To cut a long story short, he was brought to the yard we were stabled at and, when he arrived, we got a big fright – he really did not look good. The people who were leasing him had not looked after him, which was one of the reasons he had been offered to us by the owner. When my sister saw him later that day she started crying. She said she couldn’t ride him and that we could never take him to a show, as it was embarrassing – people might think that we had done this to him! We have inherited several ‘problem’ horses over the years, and my mom has taught us, with each one of them, that if their heart and mind are right, we can fix them. She told my sister, “I’m sorry – this is all we have,” and we set to work.