13 October 2011 Dawsons on the mend!
by Carolyn Tanner
2010/11 saw a torrid time for the Dawson family, with Chris, John and Anna all sidelined through injury, but there is now light at the end of the tunnel.
Former Yorkshire area champion Chris, who dislocated his hip in March, is under doctor's orders not to get back on a horse until the end of this month, but is looking forward to making a comeback this season. His main current concern, though, is a lack of fitness through his enforced inactivity. "I got on the scales two weeks ago and was 13 stone, and I don't usually go above 12 in the summer!" he said.
His aim is to be back for Sheriff Hutton in January, by which time, with at least a dozen Pointers in his yard, he hopes to be firing on all cylinders.
Considering the problems he has had with his knee, John has made a remarkable recovery. An infection following the first operation required him to go under the knife twice more, but now, like his elder brother, he is itching to get back to race-riding. He is very shortly due to return to work for John Wade, who has purchased several prospective Pointers from out of Howard Johnson's yard.
Younger sister Anna may sit out this campaign, as she has only recently undergone the operation to mend her five-times dislocated shoulder which she deferred in favour of a summer's eventing. She is not allowed to ride at all until after Christmas, and has been told that a heavy fall within the next six months will undo all the repair work.
