Jane Towse looked after Houghton and here she tell's his story! Houghton was one hell of a high spirited, a power house and for that reason he was best ridden alone.
One morning up at Dalby, Dylis told me to do "three up the hill".
The "three up the hill" was opposite the yard and basically you walked down the hill turned at the bottom and blasted up which me and the power house had done more times than not.
We had done 2 and on the 3rd time as we reached the bottom the bugger whipped round and off I came landing on my feet and keeping hold of him!
I knew instantly my leg had broken as I heard the crack and felt the pain!
It was foggy, damp and freezing but I held onto Houghton, no way was I letting him go and he was prancing around me like a bloody show pony for 40 minutes (also bringing my cornflakes back up) until they realised back at the yard I'd been gone too long!
The end being, Houghton was safe and sound was taken back for his lunch while MWE's farm manager, Pete, came along in a Land Rover put me in the back with the tail gate down having strapped my leg to a wooden board and scooted me off to Malton hospital where my leg was put in a cast!
I still loved Houghton though.
The picture shows Houghton and Alan Munro at Ripon in 1989.
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