I remember the first time I
saw him. Andrea (now a good friend of mine) was riding him in the indoor
ring at Movado Farm where he was a lesson horse. I thought, "Wow, what energy!
I want to ride THAT horse.". And I was a lucky "girl", I was able to ride
Mickey in my lessons. I found out later from another friend who grew up at
Movado, that you could only ride Mickey if you were an intermediate rider.
He was quick!
From being used as a school
horse "hunter/jumper style" and also being ridden Western for team penning,
he ended up getting a really bad wither sore. He had high withers and the
saddle cut into him. He needed a break to heal up.
One night I was riding another
horse in my lesson and I heard the barn owner say in a loud voice, "I think
Mickey needs a Mom." My ears perked up. I had secretly been putting my money
away with the hopes to buy him, but I never thought he would go up for sale
as he was valuable as a lesson horse. In retrospect, the barn owner knew
I really liked him and wanted me to make an offer. At the time, I just felt
really lucky though! I was able to buy him. He was my first horse at age
30! I had ridden on and off since age 12, but he was the first horse I was
able to own...it was incredible! I remember being nervous...how would it
be different from owning other animals?, I wondered. But, in time, I realized
it wasn't different at all. In fact, I often called him my big golden retriever.
He was a sweet boy on the ground, but definitely had an engine when you rode
him.
It took a few months to
heal up the saddle sore. When I pulled him in from the pasture where he'd
been eating all the other lesson horses' hay, he was big and full of burrs!
I decided that I should at least lunge him to give him some exercise. I would
"free" lunge him in the ring and afterwards, he would follow me around with
no lead rope on. We were bonded from the get-go.
We had many fine years together,
riding in lessons, jumping clinics, horse shows, hunter paces, riding along
the beach and swimming in the bay! I trusted him with my life. He was always
so self-preserving and, in turn, preserved me!
The summer of 2006, I was
worried about Mickey. He was dropping weight with no apparent reason and
I feared he had Cushing's disease. One day when I was riding him at the trot,
I felt him go "crunch". I got off and the next morning got a call from Janet
(the feeder) that he was dead lame. I got the vet to come out and she thought
it was possibly degenerative joint disease. He was in bad shape, definitely
painful, with both hind legs swollen. I debated what to do. I didn't want
to keep him going if he was just going to get worse, but the diagnosis wasn't
firm. After much soul searching, I decided to move him from Movado to a small
private barn. It was a hard decision. I had him there all those years and
he lived out with my sister's horse, Sidney. It was tough to make the
break.
Luckily, it was the best
thing I could have done! After some rest, he started to slowly get better.
His weight came up and I was eventually able to bring him back for riding
too. He had a blast, with a girlfriend QH mare named "Lady" and even a "mistress"
named Lena. Susan (the barn owner) called him the "Walmart Greeter", as he
always had a nicker for everyone, two or four-legged. I was able to take
him on some gorgeous trails and even jump him on some rails (that were really
supposed to be for the parking lot at the park). He was a champ...still jumping
in fine form, with his knees cracked up...I smiled when he tried to run away
with me that day!
We had an awesome 13 months
there. Unfortunately, in late September 2007, he colicked. It was mild and
he seemed to come out of it with some banamine. But the next day, he colicked
again. He wasn't a colicker. He had only colicked once in the 14 years that
I knew him, in the dead of winter (I assume due to lack of water). He wasn't
too distressed (he was always stoic) but definitely uncomfortable. The vet
came out and I ended up transporting him to an equine hospital. They found
a fecalolith in his small colon. We did the surgery, he did well, but two
days later, he got laminitis in his hind leg. By the next morning, he had
foundered too. I put him down, with my sister and husband there, and he went
peacefully after very gallantly walking outside to the grassy hill area.
His feet were like flippers at that point but I knew he would do it with
our encouragement. He wanted to eat the grass when we got there too...which
just about broke my heart...I let him have some, but we couldn't prolong
it any longer. It just wouldn't have been fair.
I miss him so much, but
know he is watching over me. He had sent me many signs that he is doing well
at the Rainbow Bridge and I need to accept the loss of his physical body.
I will love him forever. He was the best partner a "girl" could ever have!