Real Life: Oh whoa] The love that dare not speak its mane: Hester Matthewman on an overriding British passion

'THE DAY of his operation all our phone lines were jammed. We had people in tears, saying 'What will we do if he doesn't make it?' The hospital phones were jammed too and we started updating the hotline bulletin every day.' All this attention wasn't for a film star or royalty, but for a horse. Reports on the progress of steeplechaser Desert Orchid's twisted gut made front-page headlines, and security guards surrounded the veterinary hospital as he gradually recovered.

As the nation held its breath, the Desert Orchid Fan Club struggled with the deluge of get-well cards and calls. 'We've had to get extra people in - we just couldn't cope,' said secretary Melanie Carr. 'We're starting to get his first Christmas cards as well - then it's birthday cards (Dessie will be 14 on 11 April). He gets about 70 Valentines too.'

The club has around 2,500 members. The oldest is 88, the youngest are toddlers. Every week Dessie receives up to 700 devoted letters: Darling Dessie . . . I'm your No 1 fan . . . If anything should happen to you I would consider my life somewhat empty . . . When I met you it was like a dream come true . . . We have something in common, we were born in the same month . . .

What causes such adulation? 'These people aren't cranks,' says Dessie's part-owner Midge Burridge. 'They're intelligent people who have fallen in love with a horse rather than a footballer or a pop star. He's a very brave horse with a strong personality, always perky with his ears pricked up, and he's never let anyone down - unlike many humans.'

Gary Kirton, a 28-year-old baker from Sussex, remembers meeting Dessie for the first time. 'I couldn't believe a horse could be so human. I went home and told my wife I'd fallen in love. She was a bit worried until I told her it was with a racehorse. He means a lot to me; he changed my life. I used to be scared of horses, and I used to enjoy a bet, but when Dessie came along I realised there was more to it than money.'

He was sure that Dessie would pull through. 'It was a shaker, I was very worried, but deep down inside me I was confident, I knew he was a fighter with a big heart and the strength and courage to come through.' Gary's daughter Samantha's first word was not 'Daddy' but 'Dessie' and he has an extensive collection of Desert Orchid pictures and statuettes - 'they set me back a bit.'

Another fan, 'a charming, intelligent, articulate man,' according to Midge Burridge, started a local feud over the horse. He lives at 'Desert Orchid', house number seven in the street, but feels that Dessie's name should be on number one and is badgering his neighbour to sell up.

The annual club subscription is pounds 10. This includes a standard Desert Orchid kit: membership card, badge, twice-yearly newsletter, mailshots about Desert Orchid promotions, and two glossy black and white ten-by-eight photographs (ideal for framing). Optional extras range from 50p badges right up to the pounds 3,500 solid silver statuettes available through the Desert Orchid Farriers Appeal. One of his discarded horseshoes sold for pounds 500 at auction, alongside a plaited lock of his hair, a snip at pounds 125.

Dessie, who won 34 of the 71 races of his career, finally hung up his horseshoes after falling at Kempton Park on Boxing Day 1991. Nearly a year into his retirement the highlight of his fans' year is still the summer Open Day at Dessie's home near Melton Mowbray, which now spills over an entire weekend.

If you travel by taxi from Melton Mowbray station to visit him, there is no need to give an address - just ask for his stables. I met him before his current illness: Dessie, wearing a blue blanket, was looking over his stable door, his ears rotating like little radars.

According to Midge Burridge, 'he's got a very kind streak. When he's lying in his box you can go in and have a cuddle'. I didn't feel like snuggling. He's enormous - the small of his back was level with my head. He has liquid brown eyes the size of ping-pong balls and a velvety nose, and of course the distinctive white coat. He graciously snuffled up carrots and his favourite Polo mints from my palm, copiously drooling mint-scented saliva. He posed for my camera straightaway with his ears intelligently pricked. But perhaps I wasn't around long enough for the famous personality to shine through - where his fans would see an idol, I saw a big white horse.

D O Fan Club, Portland House, 11-13 Station Road, Kettering NN15 7HH. News Hotline: 0898 300765.

(Photograph omitted)