A tribute to all those horses who have changed our lives but have sadly died........

My darling Ellie (Big Els)...




I owned her for 8 yrs. She was PTS on 28th December 2008, at the age of just 13yrs with cancer.
She was one of the sweetest, most gentle horses I've ever known

I miss her ALOT:(:(:(
 
I lost my beautiful, stunning boy 17 months ago its still so raw that i cant even look at pictures of him yet. He was my life, and i owe him everything for coming second at HOYS was simply the best!

RIP darling xxx
 
I lost my beautiful boy Barnaby 5 years ago today, he was my first horse, i owned him for 8 years and although we were by no means a perfect match, i had many years of fun and he taught me an awful lot. He had the most amazing sense of humour and im thankful that my little irish cob i have now is very similar in temperament. Even after all this time, it is very rare that a day goes by that he doesn't crop up in conversation. He was a horse of a lifetime and without him i wouldn't have the beautiful yard of horses i have now. Here is a pic of him the week before we lost him to colic:

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We then lost my sisters little connemara mare to kidney failure on 27/12/06, she was the sweetest most geniuine pony anybody could wish to meet. She had a heart of gold and our only regret with her is that we hadn't had the chance of knowing her at a younger age. Here is a little pic of the most beautiful, kind mare im ever likely to know:

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Dusty, bought when I was just 12, she was too old, too small, too feisty and too unsound, but she completely saved me. I was a shy, sensitive, geeky kid who was bullied relentlessly at school, for years I wished I was dead, I used to think about killing myself a lot. But Dusty was my escape, my best friend, she let me cry into her mane most days, we'd venture out into the countryside for miles when the ground was good and she was sound, and I'd look after her with kid gloves when the ground was hard. I learned to care for someone so much that I could put my own problems aside, I could never have left her.

She learned half pass and piroettes when she was 30 and fought and won against laminitis when she was 35. I will never forgive myself for letting her get it. In Sept 2009 I went to the yard and when I saw her I fainted, I knew that our adventures were over. Her eye had burst through an ulcer I had never managed to get to heal. My poor girl, who had given me everything, and I couldn't save her. She had a lovely few days in the sun, eating all the grass and treats the laminitis had deprived her of, and then I held her head as she was put to sleep. At 39 years old she left me. Her headcollar still hangs by my bed. I love her so much, and I really believe she saved me.

In fuzzy winter mode

Shiny summer pony

With Gwen - I got them both the same year, and they died within mnths of each other, 16 years later.

She had to put up with this a lot from me!

And enjoying some grass and a flirt with my new pony before we said goodbye, the last photo taken of her as it captured her so perfectly...not bad for 39, old tart!
 
My gorgeous girl Sorrel, who was PTS 18/10/09 ages 29. She was my rock. We had been through so much together, struggling to find money to pay for her, numerous house moves and pregnancy etc.
She was my listening ear and my shoulder to cry on and she never complained about anything. She would stamp her feet to ask for carrotts and then 'smile' at me to say thank you.

you were my biggest love ever and there is still such a big hole in my life withough you. RIP old girl. xxx









and finally the day before she was PTS.



Sorry if they are huge/tiny!
 
My Gorgeous Gwen... After 18 years of never having been ill a day, and teaching many little ones to ride, you got pneumonia and passed away in December. You may not have been my own, but you were in my heart, and I will never ever forget you. You taught me to jump, taught me to canter, my first bareback ride... Love you my gorgeous Gwenny xxx


 
My mare Podge aka Mirror Image. I bought her at 2 yrs out of a racing yard.She took me to HOYS at Wembly (final judging Working Hunters), RIHS 4th Working Hunters, won my only P-T-P on her, she evented to 2* with somebody else, and then bred me 3 foals, one of whom was second highest 2 yr old and Elite at the BEF Futurity. A horse of a lifetime, put down last November at 20 years old. Its true that good horses make good riders!!
 
Such tear-jerking stories, I have been crying my way through this thread. Its amazing the bonds we have with our equine friends.
 
pts may 09 after nearly 14 fab years together. Made me not only the rider i am today but the person. We grew up together and i felt like half a person when she went. She taught me patience and humility as well as giving me confidence and ambition.
She never failed to make me feel better and forget the rubbish that may have been going on in my life.She taught me so much i feel like i owe her to carry on riding at times when i thought about not bothering again.
She was fantastic and everyone who met her thought so. Everything came so easy to her i had to work hard to keep up. She never complained even when she was ill and the vet said most horses in her condition whould have collasped, she was still standing. It was the hardest thing i have ever done but she owed me nothing and i couldnt put her through anymore.
Miss her like crazy sometimes.

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Three years ago last Sunday we had Hils PTS after he suffered a Mercedes Star fracture in his left fore. There was no hope of recovery and we did the most honourable thing we could which was have him put to sleep immediately with dignity.

Hils didn't even belong to us, he was left to the TTT after his owner died of an undiagnosed heart condition and as Mr Worried did not have a horse he was offered to him on loan.

He arrived at the same time as Mr Worried and I first become a couple and quite simply I adored him. He was pure white and stood 17.2hh and was Hannovarian X TB.

He was a perfect gentleman in every way (except to turn out ;)) it was always a pleasure to get him ready for compeititions becasue he looked stunning. I learnt every whitening trick in the book during the four years we had with him; while he learnt every trick to become as dirty as possible.

Mr Worried started off at elementary and within two years they were winning at PSG. He was the most generous hearted horse who gave 200%. He was not brilliantly put together but he had the most trainable temperament which meant he did things even if technically he shouldn't have.

I loved everything about him:
I loved the fact that when we first got Diva and she had terrified; me he gave me the confidence to ride again.
He taught me to ride tempi changes and canter pirouettes as well as half pass and other more advanced lateral work.
He gave me my first taste of piaffe and passage.
I happily hacked him around the village and he would stand patiently while the kids from the estate would race up on their bikes and give him pats and cuddles.
I loved the fact that the day a helicopter flew so low overhead we felt the downwind of the blades he did nothing more than a canter pirouette and brief passage - anything else would have killed me!

I have had horses all my life and some have stayed and some have gone - but Hils trod massive hoofprints right across my heart and they still remain to this day. He touched me like no other horse had.

When he had first arrived he had seemed to sad I wanted to make him happy again, I think he desperately missed his owner and couldn't understand where she had gone. Little by little the big grey goat found his feet and setttled into life with Team Worried, he emerged into a cheeky chap whose passion was food (probably why we bonded so well ;)) and loved putting the young Blitz firmly in his place with lots of face pulling and menacing stares!

The day he was PTS would have been his owner's birthday, I like to think that she simply thought we had had him long enough and thought it was the right time to have him back.

We had him cremated and buried his casket under the oak tree in his field where he still lies today; the field is still lovingly know as Hillock's field despite the fact we left the yard two years ago.

Our vets were amazing that horrible day, after he was gone they spent a long time washing him and the area down so that I could go back and say goodbye to him without being horrified at the sight of a snow white horse covered in blood.

I gave him a kiss and told him he would never again have to endure a bath on a freezing cold day and walked away desperately wishing things could have been different.

The following day when we arrived at the yard we saw a single solitary magpie sat in the oak tree in his field - it couldn't have been more poignant sight.
 
Bronson had to be put to sleep on the 5th of March this year :(
He'd been my best friend for nearly 5 years, overcame a broken pedal bone, battled through lami that nearly killed him, kept going despite his arthritis but couldn't make it through colic - a lump had strangulated his gut, and at 20 and about 3 hours away from where he could be operated on it was the only decision we could make.
I miss him so much every day and would give everything up if I could just have him back, I loved him so much.
He was still leaping about on his back legs at the last PC rally he went to, and hacked out the night before he died, bouncing about all over the place.
 
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my lovely Dottie, aka Doris, Skylarker, Netsuki.
So talented, so brave, so clever, so forgiving. I knew she was brilliant, but it has taken me years to realise quite how amazingly talented she was. I adored her, although she was an utter freak who was very opinionated and made her own rules. we went from Novice to 3*, she took such good care of me and covered for so many mistakes i made without ever holding it against me. She was losing the vision in 1 eye due to a cataract which is why i had to retire her, devastating as i was hoping to get her to a 4*.
R.I.P. my lovely Dottie, I'll never find another one as good as you.
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