elainemcgovern
New User
I am writing to you because I have no answers for what happened to my lovely horse Sophie who died under the most unfortunate set of circumstances I could imagine and in a vain attempt to prevent other horses falling victim to what I can only call ignorance and not trusting yourself.
To give you a little background into the life of my beautiful girl. She was brought up in a farm dedicated to the breeding of horses. Her first owners had recently made the transition from dairy cow producers to breeding sport horses with international potential. My partner and I had been looking for a new young sport horse with an abundance of presence, talent and above all a kind temperament. After spotting a stunning looking chestnut filly that would jump out of her skin rather than touch a pole, we followed her into the sales ring. The bidding went too high for us to purchase her and we were delighted when she didnt sell in the end.
So, instead, we followed the horse breeder home to his farm in Wicklow, to see her again in her home environment. I was completely besotted with her. The owners, realising that the chestnut filly may be too small for my partner, decided to show us a selection of his other horses. And then we laid eyes on our beautiful, timid yet gentle Sophie. There was something in her that we loved instantly and from that moment on we knew that she had to be ours. We probably paid severely over the odds but we didnt care because she had something that no other horse we had seen had. She personified innocence.
We brought her to one very popular riding establishment but she quickly became depressed there and we were forced to mover her to a very exclusive, exceptionally well maintained accommodation. The staff there was 100% genuine. They loved horse and were not there merely because they were being paid. Having not been broken correctly, it had taken months of perseverance and attentiveness to gain her trust and to understand what she wanted of us in terms of riding. She was a darling in the stable, great friend and fancied by every other horse in the yard.
We had just gotten her to the level where we felt confident she would enjoy attending competitions and we had already brought her on her first drag hunt. Yesterday was going to be her second. Hardly even a hunt, it was more so a hack through the beautiful Wicklow mountains.
We attended to her the same way we did every time. Because she was only 6, we put her tack on in the stable for safety. And then put her bandages and sweat rug on also. Then we loaded her into the horsebox as we did every time with the horsebox backed up to the door and quietly lead her up. Even the yard manager was there to double check that safety had been paramount.
We own a horsebox for a 168cm horse and because she is at the very top of that height bracket as well as uncomfortable to travel in confined spaces, we had removed the central partition. My partner had put her chest bar up high to prevent her from trying to jump over the bar and the yard manager had tied her rope secure to ensure she couldnt fidget too much. We normally drive with both of the windows shut at the back of the trailer to prevent our horses getting fright from passing motorists but had recently read an article that this could make horses claustrophobic and cause them to sweat up also. That, and because the yard manager who has years of experience in the area had also quoted the same reasons we listened to him. I am not fully confident in my abilities to get everything right and am always questioning my actions chose to rely on the experts. My partner, on the other hand, questioned the wisdom about 50 metres down the road as the yard manager knew her less well and did not have her full travel history to go on. No sooner had he said this than we heard an all mighty clatter emanating from the box.
He immediately stopped the car and jumped out, with me in trail. He looked in the front window of the box and had seen that our horse had managed to turn around in the box and some how managed to get her hindquarters under the front bar. As I mentioned earlier, she is 168 if not 170 cm at the withers and had gained a lot of muscle in the last year.
I ran round to the back of the horsebox as my boyfriend tried tirelessly to undo the bar from the outside. But by the time I had reached the back ramp she had already collapsed. I dropped the ramp slowly and could see that the rope that had been tied to the bailer twine attached to the hook where it was attached had not given way. Poor Sophie was in a terrible predicament. We rang the riding establishment and to their merit they were down within less than a minute.
From which point they took over. After a few moments, we pulled her from the box. And from then the staff in the yard really took over, which was very lucky for Sophie because Marcus and I were succumbed with shock. What should have been a fun day out for the horse was quickly deteriorating into a tragic event.
She had gotten cast in the horsebox, and had a natural predisposition to getting tied up. The yard girl who had her wits very much about her, kept sending me on errands, obviously to make me be of some sort of use. Luckily the vet was only 15 minutes away and by the time he had come we had sufficient rugs on her that it would aid with the tying up she was experiencing. He checked her out and gave her something to relieve the shock and said that we should see some improvement within the hour. Telling us that this occurs frequently on the racetrack and horses, once out of shock will choose to get up themselves. He really went above and beyond the call of duty.
After two hours of them waiting and me pleading with Sophie to get up, it began to dawn on me that it was unlikely she was going to. Her front legs were busy trying to stand and although there was movement in her hind legs, there was no reflexive action that should occur with all horses preparing to stand.
The vet took my boyfriend aside and explained the situation. Then when Marcus told him that he couldnt make the call to end my lovely girls short life, the vet turned to me and again explained that even though her vitals are fine and she was attempting to get up, she couldnt because she must have fractured a vertebra. It was that which was preventing the synapses travelling down her back to her hind legs, and in todays equine medicine there is nothing that could be done for her. I could see that she was very uncomfortable and wanted desperately for that to end. So now my pleading for her to get up has turned to immense sorrow and guilt. I was given a few more moments to touch her beautiful head and kiss her like I always did on her nose.
I am so sorry for my poor baby girl and angry because there were no signs of injury. I keep thinking that if only one thing had been done differently she would have gone hunting and today would be resting in her stable. If we had trained her to accept the partition, she would still be here. If we had used weaker bailer twine, she would still be here. If we had closed the ramp door like we always do, she would still be here. If the front bar had popped up like it is supposed to under that kind of pressure, she would still be here. Perhaps, we shouldnt have moved her out of the box until the vet came. This was an innocent drive that went horribly wrong.
My sorrow and grief drove me to write this and Im still not sure what I hope to achieve. I have read every possible book on horse care and management and attended the BHS stage 1 and 2 courses in stable management, and still didnt trust myself to make an accurate decision. If this is read by anyone, I pray that they can learn from this experience. Bad things dont only happen to bad people and horses dont just die from neglect and abandonme <font color="blue"> </font> nt. Tragedies happen from the simplest, most innocent cases of ignorance. In our attempts to provide the best for our horse we ended our lovely babys life. So please take care of these beautiful fragile creatures. There will never be another Sophie.
To give you a little background into the life of my beautiful girl. She was brought up in a farm dedicated to the breeding of horses. Her first owners had recently made the transition from dairy cow producers to breeding sport horses with international potential. My partner and I had been looking for a new young sport horse with an abundance of presence, talent and above all a kind temperament. After spotting a stunning looking chestnut filly that would jump out of her skin rather than touch a pole, we followed her into the sales ring. The bidding went too high for us to purchase her and we were delighted when she didnt sell in the end.
So, instead, we followed the horse breeder home to his farm in Wicklow, to see her again in her home environment. I was completely besotted with her. The owners, realising that the chestnut filly may be too small for my partner, decided to show us a selection of his other horses. And then we laid eyes on our beautiful, timid yet gentle Sophie. There was something in her that we loved instantly and from that moment on we knew that she had to be ours. We probably paid severely over the odds but we didnt care because she had something that no other horse we had seen had. She personified innocence.
We brought her to one very popular riding establishment but she quickly became depressed there and we were forced to mover her to a very exclusive, exceptionally well maintained accommodation. The staff there was 100% genuine. They loved horse and were not there merely because they were being paid. Having not been broken correctly, it had taken months of perseverance and attentiveness to gain her trust and to understand what she wanted of us in terms of riding. She was a darling in the stable, great friend and fancied by every other horse in the yard.
We had just gotten her to the level where we felt confident she would enjoy attending competitions and we had already brought her on her first drag hunt. Yesterday was going to be her second. Hardly even a hunt, it was more so a hack through the beautiful Wicklow mountains.
We attended to her the same way we did every time. Because she was only 6, we put her tack on in the stable for safety. And then put her bandages and sweat rug on also. Then we loaded her into the horsebox as we did every time with the horsebox backed up to the door and quietly lead her up. Even the yard manager was there to double check that safety had been paramount.
We own a horsebox for a 168cm horse and because she is at the very top of that height bracket as well as uncomfortable to travel in confined spaces, we had removed the central partition. My partner had put her chest bar up high to prevent her from trying to jump over the bar and the yard manager had tied her rope secure to ensure she couldnt fidget too much. We normally drive with both of the windows shut at the back of the trailer to prevent our horses getting fright from passing motorists but had recently read an article that this could make horses claustrophobic and cause them to sweat up also. That, and because the yard manager who has years of experience in the area had also quoted the same reasons we listened to him. I am not fully confident in my abilities to get everything right and am always questioning my actions chose to rely on the experts. My partner, on the other hand, questioned the wisdom about 50 metres down the road as the yard manager knew her less well and did not have her full travel history to go on. No sooner had he said this than we heard an all mighty clatter emanating from the box.
He immediately stopped the car and jumped out, with me in trail. He looked in the front window of the box and had seen that our horse had managed to turn around in the box and some how managed to get her hindquarters under the front bar. As I mentioned earlier, she is 168 if not 170 cm at the withers and had gained a lot of muscle in the last year.
I ran round to the back of the horsebox as my boyfriend tried tirelessly to undo the bar from the outside. But by the time I had reached the back ramp she had already collapsed. I dropped the ramp slowly and could see that the rope that had been tied to the bailer twine attached to the hook where it was attached had not given way. Poor Sophie was in a terrible predicament. We rang the riding establishment and to their merit they were down within less than a minute.
From which point they took over. After a few moments, we pulled her from the box. And from then the staff in the yard really took over, which was very lucky for Sophie because Marcus and I were succumbed with shock. What should have been a fun day out for the horse was quickly deteriorating into a tragic event.
She had gotten cast in the horsebox, and had a natural predisposition to getting tied up. The yard girl who had her wits very much about her, kept sending me on errands, obviously to make me be of some sort of use. Luckily the vet was only 15 minutes away and by the time he had come we had sufficient rugs on her that it would aid with the tying up she was experiencing. He checked her out and gave her something to relieve the shock and said that we should see some improvement within the hour. Telling us that this occurs frequently on the racetrack and horses, once out of shock will choose to get up themselves. He really went above and beyond the call of duty.
After two hours of them waiting and me pleading with Sophie to get up, it began to dawn on me that it was unlikely she was going to. Her front legs were busy trying to stand and although there was movement in her hind legs, there was no reflexive action that should occur with all horses preparing to stand.
The vet took my boyfriend aside and explained the situation. Then when Marcus told him that he couldnt make the call to end my lovely girls short life, the vet turned to me and again explained that even though her vitals are fine and she was attempting to get up, she couldnt because she must have fractured a vertebra. It was that which was preventing the synapses travelling down her back to her hind legs, and in todays equine medicine there is nothing that could be done for her. I could see that she was very uncomfortable and wanted desperately for that to end. So now my pleading for her to get up has turned to immense sorrow and guilt. I was given a few more moments to touch her beautiful head and kiss her like I always did on her nose.
I am so sorry for my poor baby girl and angry because there were no signs of injury. I keep thinking that if only one thing had been done differently she would have gone hunting and today would be resting in her stable. If we had trained her to accept the partition, she would still be here. If we had used weaker bailer twine, she would still be here. If we had closed the ramp door like we always do, she would still be here. If the front bar had popped up like it is supposed to under that kind of pressure, she would still be here. Perhaps, we shouldnt have moved her out of the box until the vet came. This was an innocent drive that went horribly wrong.
My sorrow and grief drove me to write this and Im still not sure what I hope to achieve. I have read every possible book on horse care and management and attended the BHS stage 1 and 2 courses in stable management, and still didnt trust myself to make an accurate decision. If this is read by anyone, I pray that they can learn from this experience. Bad things dont only happen to bad people and horses dont just die from neglect and abandonme <font color="blue"> </font> nt. Tragedies happen from the simplest, most innocent cases of ignorance. In our attempts to provide the best for our horse we ended our lovely babys life. So please take care of these beautiful fragile creatures. There will never be another Sophie.
