anj789
Well-Known Member
Sadly my beautiful mare Bridie was put to sleep today. She was 19 and retired 18 months ago but got so stiff with arthritis it just wasn't fair to go on. That and last New Year she managed to cut her head open and get cast making a real mess of herself and with fireworks on their way I couldn't bear the thought of her getting scared and doing the same again.
So, who was Bridie? That's her in my avatar, her portrait captured her giving us one of her looks. Bouncing, boinging, bucking, galloping, jumping, rearing, snorting, steaming, terrorising (horses and people - she wasn't picky), a girl with attitude who was always, always aiming to have fun and sooo much fun to ride. She couldn't contain herself if there was the slightest thought that another horse around might be having more fun than she was; hacking was never boring when she came bucking down the hill in absolute balance while just shaking her rider a little bit loose and leaving them feeling ever so slightly sea-sick... I banned her from every sponsored ride over the years because her behaviour was so ridiculous and I just couldn't stand being thrown around for 10 miles any more.
Happy & friendly but with a wicked sense of humour, she could make you chase her round a field for 20 minutes but would then get bored and steam down the field (hill preferably) straight at you, swerving at the last second...
I was first told she'd never be sound to jump when she was a whippet-like 5yo dappled iron grey just 6 months over from Ireland; she had classic ID lines to Ben Purple and TB
Crepello; but I soon found myself a decent vet - we're forever indebted to Peter Scott-Dunn who gave us a 'fighting chance' of recovery / management and though she always had degenerative problems in her coffin joints and eventually her hocks too, we had great fun jumping for many many years. She even deigned to do the occasional decent dressage test and thought flying changes were a great idea any time you went over x. She was terribly accident prone too - who else could crack a splint bone while on individual turn-out for another injury? She probably funded several vets of South Bucks towards a more than comfortable retirement but she was worth it.
Aside countless rosettes and admiring comments from strangers, her greatest achievement has to be teaching my OH not only to ride but to love horses; he went from 'they're dangerous and they've got huge heads' to kicking on through everything she threw at him and loving it. After learning to ride on B, he dismissed riding my novice eventer as 'boring'.
She taught me everything I know about horses and more if I'd cared to listen or been able to work it out, but we can't all be as smart as B.
For anyone who knew her, whether you wanted one like that, were glad you didn't have one like that or maybe you do have one like that - think of a B memory and smile...
Most of you didn't know her, but I'm sure you get the idea - next time you're out on a ride, just enjoy it & think of her, she'll be looking down from the big carrot farm up there.
So, Bye B - the world will be that bit quieter and less fun without you x
So, who was Bridie? That's her in my avatar, her portrait captured her giving us one of her looks. Bouncing, boinging, bucking, galloping, jumping, rearing, snorting, steaming, terrorising (horses and people - she wasn't picky), a girl with attitude who was always, always aiming to have fun and sooo much fun to ride. She couldn't contain herself if there was the slightest thought that another horse around might be having more fun than she was; hacking was never boring when she came bucking down the hill in absolute balance while just shaking her rider a little bit loose and leaving them feeling ever so slightly sea-sick... I banned her from every sponsored ride over the years because her behaviour was so ridiculous and I just couldn't stand being thrown around for 10 miles any more.
Happy & friendly but with a wicked sense of humour, she could make you chase her round a field for 20 minutes but would then get bored and steam down the field (hill preferably) straight at you, swerving at the last second...
I was first told she'd never be sound to jump when she was a whippet-like 5yo dappled iron grey just 6 months over from Ireland; she had classic ID lines to Ben Purple and TB
Crepello; but I soon found myself a decent vet - we're forever indebted to Peter Scott-Dunn who gave us a 'fighting chance' of recovery / management and though she always had degenerative problems in her coffin joints and eventually her hocks too, we had great fun jumping for many many years. She even deigned to do the occasional decent dressage test and thought flying changes were a great idea any time you went over x. She was terribly accident prone too - who else could crack a splint bone while on individual turn-out for another injury? She probably funded several vets of South Bucks towards a more than comfortable retirement but she was worth it.
Aside countless rosettes and admiring comments from strangers, her greatest achievement has to be teaching my OH not only to ride but to love horses; he went from 'they're dangerous and they've got huge heads' to kicking on through everything she threw at him and loving it. After learning to ride on B, he dismissed riding my novice eventer as 'boring'.
She taught me everything I know about horses and more if I'd cared to listen or been able to work it out, but we can't all be as smart as B.
For anyone who knew her, whether you wanted one like that, were glad you didn't have one like that or maybe you do have one like that - think of a B memory and smile...
Most of you didn't know her, but I'm sure you get the idea - next time you're out on a ride, just enjoy it & think of her, she'll be looking down from the big carrot farm up there.
So, Bye B - the world will be that bit quieter and less fun without you x
