Cambridgeshire vet saddles up for Horseball World Cup
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Mike Barton, a vet at Fellowes Farm Equine Clinic, part of veterinary group VetPartners, will fly to Argentina to take part in the Horseball World Cup next month.
Fourteen different nations are competing in the tournament, which takes place in Buenos Aires from 24th-30th March, and Mike and his teammates will be lining up against Kyrgyzstan for their first match.
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Hide AdHorseball is a fast-paced game played by a team of four riders who pass the ball to each other as they gallop down the pitch. The aim is to score goals by throwing the ball through a raised hoop.

Mike plays the game internationally alongside a busy job as a vet and Clinical Director at Fellowes Farm, which has an equine clinic in Huntingdon, as well as a team of vets who travel around Cambridgeshire to treat horses ranging from family horses and ponies to racehorses and competition horses.
It will be Mike’s third World Cup appearance with the British Horseball Association Pro Elite men’s team, but South America is the furthest he will have travelled to play the game.
On home turf, he competes on his own horse, 13-year-old ex-racehorse Sid, but in Argentina the British players will be riding borrowed horses that they’ll only meet a few hours before the tournament starts.
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Hide AdMike said: “Horseball is a fun game to play and I enjoy taking part because it’s one of the few team sports that involve horses. I like the excitement and the camaraderie, and controlling the ball and your horse when you’re moving at high speed is exhilarating.
“I am really pleased to have been selected again for the British team and to be competing in Argentina will be a highlight of my horseball career. The game is loosely based on the Argentinian sport of Pato, so the country is very excited about hosting the championships for the first time and they are taking it very seriously.
“Usually, France would be our biggest rival and its team has an incredible track record, having won the last four world cups. However, this time, all the European players will be riding borrowed horses so it could really open things up and change the rankings. Argentina is likely to be the hot favourite, because they’ll benefit from riding their own horses as well as having the home crowd behind them, but the British team is very determined to play as well as we can and achieve one of the top placings.”
Fellowes Farm Equine Clinic provides 24-hour care to horses through its ambulatory practice and its well-equipped equine clinic that benefits from excellent facilities, including high-tech diagnostic equipment. It is part of veterinary group VetPartners, which is made up of some of the UK and Europe’s most respected small animal, equine, mixed and farm practices and animal healthcare companies.