BBC News Ireland correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n There’s no better way for the horse believed to be the oldest in the UK to celebrate her 46th birthday in County Down. <\/p>\n A cake made of linseed mash and grass pellets, with a middle layer of grated carrot.<\/p>\n Roana and her stablemates, Tinkerbell and Barnaby, seemed to thoroughly appreciate the treat from Roana’s owner Cerys Brown.<\/p>\n Cerys has had a close bond with Roana for more than three decades.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She was six years old when she first saddled up with the pony at a riding school.<\/p>\n “I can’t imagine life without her, “said Cerys.<\/p>\n “I just know her inside out, she knows me inside out, we’ve grown up together.<\/p>\n “She’s always there, she’s always been there. She’s my best friend.”<\/p>\n She rode Roana at competitive show-jumping events in the 1990s.<\/p>\n Cerys joked that at first, Roana “wasn’t very fond of small children”.<\/p>\n “But I was always the kid with treats in my pockets, and Roana likes treats. That’s how I won her around.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n When the riding school closed during the next decades, Cerys’s grandmother bought the mixed-breed pony for her.<\/p>\n Roana has lived at her stables in County Down ever since.<\/p>\n Cerys is often asked about the secret of Roana’s longevity.<\/p>\n “I think a lot of it is good care, and good feeding. She’s had lots of exercise but not too much, so she has good joints.<\/p>\n “And also, good genetics,” she added. <\/p>\n Roana has cantered through all the significant events in Cerys’s life \u2013 even attending her wedding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She’s been a help during more difficult times too.<\/p>\n Cerys was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when she was 18 years old.<\/p>\n She said that having Roana and another horse at the time gave her “the drive to get well again”.<\/p>\n “It just gave me a reason to get up and out in the morning.”<\/p>\n Cerys described Roana’s personality as “thran” \u2013 which is a word often used in Northern Ireland to mean “stubborn”.<\/p>\n “Roana knows her own mind,” she explained.<\/p>\n “She does what she wants when she pleases.<\/p>\n “I run to her schedule as opposed to the other way round.<\/p>\n “But she’s great fun, she has such a zest for life … and even at age 46, she’s not slow. She just wants to be out having fun.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Roana emerged as the frontrunner in the race to be the UK’s oldest horse in a survey by the equestrian specialists Harry Hall.<\/p>\n Managing Director Liz Hopper said the relationship between Cerys and Roana was a “beautiful partnership”.<\/p>\n “Horses are living longer due to advancements in nutrition and medicine,” she explained.<\/p>\n “We are witnessing them surpassing expectations of the average age – which is around 25.”<\/p>\n Cerys said she hadn’t previously thought that Roana could be a record-holder.<\/p>\n “If horses get to their late 20s or early 30s, it’s great.<\/p>\n “Forty-six is an incredible age.<\/p>\n “But just because she’s always been there, I never really thought Roana could be the oldest.<\/p>\n “She’s just my Roana.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/7017\/live\/43975810-efd1-11ef-b500-23248cff5cc1.jpg.webp\")
Harry Hall<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/bbcx\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/c7f4\/live\/7aa7e660-efce-11ef-b500-23248cff5cc1.jpg.webp\")
Harry Hall<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Harry](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/95cf\/live\/23c3e9e0-efd1-11ef-a819-277e390a7a08.png.webp\")
Harry Hall<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
![\"Thin,](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/fc17\/live\/fd7dafa0-f02a-11ef-a819-277e390a7a08.png.webp\")
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