Success stories Henri De Boistron - RoR Horse Personality of the Year Award Finalist

The 12-year-old gelding Henri De Boistron is one of three former racehorses in the running to win RoR Horse Personality of the Year. The award celebrates horses who have shown “exceptional character” in transitioning from racing to a new career and have had a positive impact on those around them. The winner will be announced at the RoR Awards on 22 January 2022.

Henri De Boistron was nominated by Anastasia Choma.

I bought Henri in April 2018. There was no way that I couldn’t bring him home, I knew there was something so special about him. We had a fun year of getting to know each other but in summer 2019, I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, at the age of 29. My life came crashing down around me and I was thrown into a whole new terrifying world of hospital appointments, surgeries and chemotherapy.

Fortunately, I had minimal side effects and I was able to continue riding and looking after Hénri. A hack with Hénri would help with the brain fog following chemo and he always looks after me and puts a smile on my face.

We often meet up with my friend Clare, and her pony Frankie, who had been through the same diagnosis. We’d hack for hours, chatting about our experiences, and that really was my therapy. We decided to enter the hotly-contested Lands Eventing pairs class that December. I was still in the middle of treatment but we thought we’d give it a go, in our pink tutus. Hénri led round the course and we only went on to win the class, beating 62 other combinations!

We have done a few competitions together to raise awareness since then and also hacked 100km throughout October 2020, raising over £2000 for Breast Cancer Now.

I am now cancer free and Hénri and I enjoy eventing, being asked to compete at the RC Championships in the 90cm horse trials this summer was definitely a highlight! Hénri is a fantastic example of how versatile and wonderful former racehorses are. He is the most loving and funny best friend anyone could ask for.