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glenatronBack in 2004, for my 28th birthday, we took on a horse with the aim of him being mine or largely mine as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sleepsy_mouse had her little arab to ride. Things didn't really work out that way- said arab's injuries proved to be intractable and in the end Joe was more sleepsy_mouse's horse than mine. Still he was our horse, we both rode him and he was central to our lives for the next few years. Looking back it was not until my seventh post that he got a mention on LJ but he predates it by a considerable time. Of course, he has always been my default userpic. He was the first horse of ours I rode and I learned a whole lot from him. After a few years on loan, his owner, Karen, gave him to sleepsy_mouse in a moment of incredible generosity and intense emotion and he was actually our own horse.
By 2007, not long after we lost Othello, he seemed to be getting uncomfortable both ridden and in groundwork and after various tests and check-ups x-rays indicated arthritic changes in every joint up his forelegs we realised we would have to retire him. A few months later he colicked badly, a sand colic. When it happened again a few weeks later, both times necessitating a visit to hospital, we knew he couldn't stay with us as the soil here is sand and he moved over to live with our friend whose yard is on clay. For the last three years he has lived out with her three mares, considering himself to be stalliano, king of all the stallions. He has, all in all, been very happy over that time, if increasingly creaky and shorter of stride.
This autumn things have gone worse for him- he's found it harder to move and needed more pain medication to get by, some problem in his throat was blocking his breathing and then last week he had a problem with one of his hind feet- maybe an abscess but it didn't show itself through poulticing and with his front legs so sore he was finding it hard to stand. After visiting yesterday and today,sleepsy_mouse, along with our friend Karen who was Joe's human before we were made the hardest decision that we have to make as horse owners. They were both with him at the end.
Pictures of the charming mr. Joseph Pony
Winter riding, long before we moved to our current yard.
Me riding Joe, this must be 2004 I guess. I didn't know how to ride back then but Joe was pretty good at keeping himself between me and the ground.
Under bright spring flowers.
Marching across the field in the glowing sun.
Sleepy Joe rests his head onsleepsy_mouse's lap.
Joe would tell us when his dinnerbowl had accidentally become empty in case we were planning to help him fill it up again. He was helpful like that.
Two old friends both missed. The day Zorro first came to stay, Joe whinnied to him, I think because seeing a black horse in a red halter he thought his friend had come back.
The day he was given tosleepsy_mouse - everyone cried, Joe decided it was too much emotion and ran off. A classic way to break the moment and very funny indeed. This picture was used as the basis for a print by an artist we know.
He took bucking pretty seriously when he did it. It was a lot of cob to fling in the air, even if feathers are for flying.
Joseph Pony.
The day he arrived at his new home, disappearing into glory...
Goodbye Joe.
And the thing is this, really: We only get these gifts, the brilliant, intense and joyous lives that our friends share with us, on credit. The more value they bring to us, the greater the price they extract at the end. And it is always, always worth it.
Joe's legacy for us has been enormous. He really has changed pretty much everything and a world without him is a smaller, sadder place.
So tonight the stars look down on England's gypsy fields and share cold tears for a great and gentle heart and a questioning eye that will receive their light no more, but find instead some greater glory. And somewhere past the tears that mist our sight, our friend finds strong legs to carry him over endless summer fields where no fear can fill him and no harm come to him or the herd that run with him in those bright days.
Joseph Pony, 1993-2010
sleepsy_mouse had her little arab to ride. Things didn't really work out that way- said arab's injuries proved to be intractable and in the end Joe was more sleepsy_mouse's horse than mine. Still he was our horse, we both rode him and he was central to our lives for the next few years. Looking back it was not until my seventh post that he got a mention on LJ but he predates it by a considerable time. Of course, he has always been my default userpic. He was the first horse of ours I rode and I learned a whole lot from him. After a few years on loan, his owner, Karen, gave him to sleepsy_mouse in a moment of incredible generosity and intense emotion and he was actually our own horse.By 2007, not long after we lost Othello, he seemed to be getting uncomfortable both ridden and in groundwork and after various tests and check-ups x-rays indicated arthritic changes in every joint up his forelegs we realised we would have to retire him. A few months later he colicked badly, a sand colic. When it happened again a few weeks later, both times necessitating a visit to hospital, we knew he couldn't stay with us as the soil here is sand and he moved over to live with our friend whose yard is on clay. For the last three years he has lived out with her three mares, considering himself to be stalliano, king of all the stallions. He has, all in all, been very happy over that time, if increasingly creaky and shorter of stride.
This autumn things have gone worse for him- he's found it harder to move and needed more pain medication to get by, some problem in his throat was blocking his breathing and then last week he had a problem with one of his hind feet- maybe an abscess but it didn't show itself through poulticing and with his front legs so sore he was finding it hard to stand. After visiting yesterday and today,
sleepsy_mouse, along with our friend Karen who was Joe's human before we were made the hardest decision that we have to make as horse owners. They were both with him at the end.Pictures of the charming mr. Joseph Pony
Winter riding, long before we moved to our current yard.
Me riding Joe, this must be 2004 I guess. I didn't know how to ride back then but Joe was pretty good at keeping himself between me and the ground.
Under bright spring flowers.
Marching across the field in the glowing sun.
Sleepy Joe rests his head on
sleepsy_mouse's lap.Joe would tell us when his dinnerbowl had accidentally become empty in case we were planning to help him fill it up again. He was helpful like that.
Two old friends both missed. The day Zorro first came to stay, Joe whinnied to him, I think because seeing a black horse in a red halter he thought his friend had come back.
The day he was given to
sleepsy_mouse - everyone cried, Joe decided it was too much emotion and ran off. A classic way to break the moment and very funny indeed. This picture was used as the basis for a print by an artist we know.He took bucking pretty seriously when he did it. It was a lot of cob to fling in the air, even if feathers are for flying.
Joseph Pony.
The day he arrived at his new home, disappearing into glory...
Goodbye Joe.
And the thing is this, really: We only get these gifts, the brilliant, intense and joyous lives that our friends share with us, on credit. The more value they bring to us, the greater the price they extract at the end. And it is always, always worth it.
Joe's legacy for us has been enormous. He really has changed pretty much everything and a world without him is a smaller, sadder place.
So tonight the stars look down on England's gypsy fields and share cold tears for a great and gentle heart and a questioning eye that will receive their light no more, but find instead some greater glory. And somewhere past the tears that mist our sight, our friend finds strong legs to carry him over endless summer fields where no fear can fill him and no harm come to him or the herd that run with him in those bright days.
Joseph Pony, 1993-2010
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no subject
Date: 22 Nov 2010 01:40 (UTC)This made me cry. I am so sorry ~ but also proud of you for making the choice to set him free.
And I hope you don't mind, but I've printed this out and tucked it into my book of quotes. I know the time is coming when I'll need the reminder.
no subject
Date: 22 Nov 2010 17:21 (UTC)