Horses

Well, I cannot believe that the era of Kado has nearly come to an end - I have had him for 8 years, and he's really been the horse I've always wanted. Not only is he gorgeous, big, black, and a total sook, he's got talent to burn. Showjumping was his first love, but he put up with the dressage for me, and excelled on the cross country course when he figured out that I wanted him to gallop..fast...and then jump..solid jumps that didn't move... Totally trustworthy and always sane, with brakes - and then was quite happy to just stand and munch his hay at the float for hours on end while the competition was going on around him. Trouble is, in the first six months of having him, he cartwheeled in his paddock on a rainy slippery day - then the fun started. Two years later, and several vets, we discovered that he'd fractured his hip in that fall. He was also being shod atrociously - let's say, for the uninitiated it would have been akin to trying to do a steeplechase with one running shoe on and one high heel. Um, any wonder why the horse has sore shoulders? So, we fixed that - 6 farriers later. So many idiots, so little time. We even managed a few one day events - the first one being the one in the picture. Then, I had to move him away out of reach of my good farrier...and back in the hands of so many idiots...three farriers later and my horse was intermittently lame again (ligament is tearing away from a bone inside the hoof due to idiot farrier not balancing hoof 100percent)...so i had to stick him in the float every 4 weeks and take a half day trip to/from Liverpool to meet my old trusty farrier again. I then moved him back to agistment in Wilton....sound again, and back to more events - then Kado was innocently tied up inside the stable area. Another girl walks up, rests her hand on his back and all hell breaks loose - Kado looks like he's had a firecracker shoved up his backside and ends up removing the wall he's tied to (so much for quick release knots) - drags the whole wall outside....Osteo comes and treats...all well and good. Then the for Kado's piece de resistance he decides to somersault once more - this time over a star picket fence (playing too rambunctiously with his neighbouring pal)- we finally get the all clear some three months later (after a month off on the last injury), then he starts limping and it's getting worse.. I have now reached the end of my patience. I cannot keep wondering what i can do to make this horse sound... So, he's out to the big retirement paddock indefinitely... I'll get him in from time to time to see if he's improving, if not, he can just wander around with his girlfriend and a bunch of other retired geriatric ponies. It's a tough life....