Harry Meade and Tenareze at Luhmühlen in July 2019. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
It’s been a slow road to recovery for 2014 British WEG silver medalist Harry Meade since a fall at Thoresby last October left him with a head injury. His foot got caught in the stirrup, and he was repeatedly kicked in the head by being dragged at a gallop; by the time his foot eventually detached from the stirrup his hat had been badly damaged and kicked free from his head.
Harry is a horseman through and through and has one of the biggest hearts in the sport — even while badly concussed and injured being loaded into the ambulance, in fact, he asked for a message to be sent to the competitors waiting at the start, apologizing for holding them up! — and his resilience has shown through time and time again. We couldn’t be happier to hear that he is back in his happy place, on the back of a horse.
Harry Meade and Superstition in October 2020. Photo by Tilly Berendt.
Harry Meade Eventing shared this update on Friday:
“It’s great to see Harry finally back on a horse and feeling good. He twice started riding and twice had to back off, but is now on a consistent path and coping well. It’s been a fairly grim and humbling few months for Harry – unfortunately with a head injury a simple determination to push through is futile – but he’s now the other side of the main difficulties he was faced with.
“Whilst he’s largely recovered and to the outside looks and sounds himself, he’s still limited by his mental stamina. The neural fatigue he has been experiencing is incomparable to any sort of normal tiredness – the brain starts to shut down with very little warning and the only remedy is to go straight to sleep. However, we are thankful that the thinking part of his brain has been unaffected.
“We’re aware that this is a still an ongoing process and improvements will continue over the course of the rest of the year. The great thing is that thanks to the hard work and patience of those involved in his rehab he is back doing what he does best.
“We’re very grateful to our superb team here at Church Farm, our supportive owners and the brilliant professionals who’ve been working with Harry throughout his rehab, and it’s lovely to see all their support paying off.
“The horses are in great shape and Harry’s planning to start at the elite pathway events before and the season proper kicks off properly as planned in early April.”
Go Harry. Go Eventing.
