Lucy came to us just under
2 years ago. I'll never forget them pulling the back of the horse box down
and her whinnying as if to say, "We there yet?".
She was the prettiest little horse I had ever seen, she had been brought
up from a foal by my mother-in-law and after I had to part with my first
horse (we weren't meant to be together), she offered to sell Lucy to me because
she was "quiet" and would be good for me. Well, Lucy...quiet? I don't think
so!
As soon as she settled in after a couple of days, her beautiful character
started to shine through. She was, oh so cheeky! She was only 13.3hh New
Forest cross, but my, was she strong. When I first started to ride Lucy,
she didn't know what to do, but I brought her on and gradually she became
confident, and as her confidence grew, so did mine. She was my little precious,
we would ride up the farm tracks down by the river. Though she was terrified
of the cows in a field next to the track, she trusted me enough to know I
would never let anything hurt her and she would ride by snorting until we
got to the other side and I would make a massive fuss of her. We loved our
hugs. I would stand just talking to her about everyday things and she would
lift her head, rest it on my shoulder and pull me in for a hug. We would
stand like that for ages, until my back could take no more! We would stand
at her stable door, quietly looking out together, and she would rest her
head on my shoulder and I couldn't help but kiss that gorgeous squidgy nose
of hers and smell her. Oh, how I miss her smell.
We were best friends. She would wake me up if I didn't get up in time
for breakfast. She would give me 10 minutes, then shout, and the whole farm
would hear her! She would nicker at me if I walked past and not stop, so
then of course, I had to give that nose a big squidgy kiss. In wintertime,
she would gallop around her field so fast I would worry she would do herself
an injury. She would squeal and buck and make the rudest noises! We would
all be laughing. She would chase me around the field playing, forgetting
I'm only a delicate human!
She became ill with Laminitis last year, something I wasn't prepared
for as she had always lived outside at my mother-in-laws. But she recovered
well and quickly and after what felt like eternity, we were back to our "going
out together". I was very protective of her and determined she would never
be ill again. She had restricted grazing from then on and I cut my hours
at work to spend as much time as I could with her so she wouldn't get bored.
She loved my company and I loved hers.
Then this year as spring approached, I was so aware of the grass appearing,
I cut her time out even more. But her 2 hours morning and 2 hours late afternoon
must have still been too much. One morning going out, she was just a little
stiff in her back legs, but she was fine in her stable walking about and
standing at her door "moaning" because she had to stay in to anybody that
passed her way! After a couple of days she was no better, so I called the
vet who then confirmed Laminitis, gave me her medicine and said call back
at the end of treatment. But she was no better, so he gave me some stronger
stuff. This went on for a little over a week and on the Saturday she finally
laid down, she hadn't laid down all this time and at last she seemed to relax.
The following day I couldn't get her up, so called the vet. He came
and gave her an injection and said her pedal bones in her back feet had rotated
and sunk. He was as shocked as I was that this had happened so quickly. He
said I had to face the fact she would not recover, but if we could get her
over the next couple of days she might be ok. The horse specialist
came out the next day, examined her, and said it was in all her feet and
there was nothing more they could do. There was only one thing left. I had
to stop her pain.
My poor baby, throughout this painful time (two weeks) she still found the
energy to hug me. I would hold her water bucket for her to drink from in
her final couple of days and she would look at me with those beautiful eyes
as if to say thank you. We all spent time with Lucy saying our special goodbyes
and as I put her head collar on for the final time, tears streaming
down my face, she looked me straight in the eye, ears pricked up as if to
say, "It's okay, don't worry.".
Well, my baby, you know
how much I love you. I'm so proud of you and I will miss you til we meet
again.
Hug you, kiss you, love
you, miss you.
Mummy Gillian
xxxxx