Finlay's Story

Not every horse arrives here through a considered breeding decision. Some arrive because somebody has to say yes when everyone else has said no.

Finlay came to us in January 2025 with a poor prognosis. She was weak, lethargic, and unusually quiet, with marked weight loss and muscle wasting. Ragwort poisoning had caused what her vets described as irreversible damage, her liver biomarkers were dangerously high, and a biopsy confirmed it. There was no undoing what had already been done.

We decided to fight for her as science suggested recovery and a bright future was possible. So that’s exactly what we did.  

What followed was months of recovery, regular veterinary care and a carefully selected diet to rebuild her condition, alongside milk thistle to support liver function. The evidence here comes largely from human trials, and results are mixed, but the science is worth explaining.

Milk thistle's active compound, silymarin, is thought to scavenge free radicals, reduce lipid peroxidation, and increase intracellular glutathione, helping to protect liver cells from further damage. It may also stabilise hepatocyte membranes, reduce inflammatory cytokines, and inhibit the collagen deposition that leads to fibrosis, while stimulating protein synthesis in the liver cells that survived.

But this is where the science mattered as much as care matters. Every step followed the same principles behind everything we do.

Genetics, microbiome, environment, training, and no small amount of luck. Diet sat right at the centre of her recovery, the one lever we could pull hardest to support her gut and her body as she healed.

Today, Finlay is unrecognisable and truly thriving, and her next chapter is quite honestly, unbelievable.

She's proof of what's possible when welfare isn't something you just talk about, but something you're prepared to fight for.

We tell her story because it's why we do this. Science matters, of course, but so does refusing to give up on a horse that everybody else already had.

Finally is our girl, and the herd just wouldn’t be right without her.

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