The Bolshoi is having a "horse problem" with its staging of Marius Petipa's The Pharaoh's Daughter at the Royal Opera House in London. The show involves a performing horse - but the company was barred from using a Russian one by quarantine laws.

Tour manager Paul Godfrey lined up a local horse, only to find it had suffered an injury. "We waited for it to get better but it wasn't to be," says Godfrey. "I was offered one from the Royal Horse Guards," he adds, "but its handler was in hospital."

At the weekend, trick-rider and horse-handler Ian van Temperley came to the rescue, sending a horse from his company, Horsemen of the Apocalypse, in Wales.

This wasn't the end of the saga, however. Rehearsals had to be put back two hours when Van Temperley's wagon blew a tyre. When the horse arrived (named Todo, but known as Dobbin by the Bolshoi), he had to be inspected by Westminster Council's vet.

"You have to have the right horse for the job," explains Van Temperley. "You need a horse that is not going to be spooked by the lights, or applause or a big noise from the orchestra."

Todo, a veteran of Alton Towers's ice show and Carmen, was unfazed during rehearsals. Godfrey was relieved to be in the presence of "a real star. For his last engagement, he was jumping through hoops of fire - all he has to do here is pull Pharaoh's chariot."