Up, up and a-neigh! Meet Tuli, the ‘untrainable’ horse sold for £1 who is now a dressage master… worth an estimated £10,000
- Trainer Charlotte Bailey took in Tuli, 18, after he was rejected by ten owners
- He has mastered classical dressage moves such as a capriole and a pesade
- Tuli loves custard doughnuts and is rewarded with one once a week
His cousins strut their stuff in the famous Spanish Riding School in Vienna.
But Tuli the Lipizzaner seemed to have little prospect of ever putting on a show.
After being rescued from a defunct stud farm in Hungary where he was kept in a cramped, dirty stall and denied regular exercise, the horse was rejected as untrainable by ten owners in the UK.
Then trainer and riding instructor Charlotte Bailey came along. She bought him for a guinea – £1.05.
And after eight years of love, expert training and the occasional custard doughnut treat, Tuli, 18, is dancing for joy.
Look at us now! Charlotte Bailey took in Tuli after he was rejected by ten owners
He has mastered classical dressage moves such as a capriole – a controlled leap with a kick out of the hind legs – and a pesade – rearing up high with his forelegs drawn in.
Tuli now features in photoshoots for magazines and is hired by wedding venues.
Last week he and Miss Bailey, 41, switched on their local Christmas lights in Congleton, Cheshire.
Miss Bailey, who has 16 horses at the farm where she lives with her parents, said yesterday: ‘When he came here off the lorry he couldn’t bend his hocks and dragged his back feet up the yard.
‘My mum said that she thought he was a really old horse but he was only ten. He was closed, switched off. Tuli just wants to be cared for – and that’s how he has achieved his full potential.’
She added: ‘It was just a matter of not putting any pressure on him to perform, that’s what works best.
‘The first time we worked together I just let him run and play games, with no pressure on him to do anything for me.
‘These are very highly trained manoeuvres and are not for Bob the cob.’
Tuli loves custard doughnuts and is rewarded with one once a week ‘if he has done something super special’, and on his birthday.
And after eight years of love, expert training and the occasional custard doughnut treat, Tuli, 18, is dancing for joy
Tuli loves custard doughnuts and is rewarded with one once a week ‘if he has done something super special’, and on his birthday
Lipizzans are used in the world famous performances known as the ‘ballet of the white stallions’ by the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria.
The breed dates back to the Austrian imperial stud in 1580.
Tuli was brought back to the UK when he was five by a friend of Miss Bailey’s who saw a social media post about a stud dispersal sale.
Miss Bailey said: ‘He spent five years in the UK and had 10 different people in his life before he was offered to me. He had been labelled very difficult and too temperamental.
‘He was then gifted to me for one guinea. It was the best pound and five pence I have ever spent.’
Tuli is now estimated to be worth ‘well over £10,000’ but Miss Bailey said: ‘To me his is priceless and I would never sell him.’
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