Chris Paus and Max - from Chris Paus

["guest@endurance.net" <guest@endurance.net>]

Chris Paus paus@prodigy.net
To Ridecampers

I appreciate all the condolences and well wishes I've received from people I
know and those I don't. Your words have touched my heart and are helping the
healing. I've forwarded many to the wonderful lady who bought Max, but never
got to know him in person.

I didn't really want to sell him, and had taken him off the market to keep
him for my next endurance horse. But this woman begged me to sell Max to her
and did cartwheels to prove she would provide him a nice home and that she
would click with his fun-spirited personality. We even joked about getting
together someday for a match race on the Galveston beaches between her on
Max and me on Star.

Max would  have made an awesome endurance horse or sport horse. We'll never
realize those dreams.

For those who have read the posts on this subject and offered criticism, I
can only say, there is no angle you can look at or "what if" or "if only"
that I haven't already come up with and replayed in my mind hundreds of
times.

I know I am a good horsewoman and my friends and acquaintances know this. My
horses are bred with care, raised with kindness, and trained to be good
companions. Their living arrangements are as safe as we can make them.

I've had horses for more than 35 years, but I'm not infallible. I can't
always see every angle of a potential problem. Many of you don't know that I
sustained a bad knee injury in January and am still recovering from the
surgery. My knee simply will not allow me to move as quickly as I would
like. I tried to get the handler to wait and let Max calm down. I tried to
catch up and take Max away when I could see things spinning out of control,
but my knee handicapped my ability to get there in time, even though he was
only steps away.

To the person who criticized the "hazards," these were things Max and every
horse sees daily and deals with - a fence and a horse trailer. Had he not
been handicapped by a blindfold in the middle of the night, he would have
negotiated the hazards safely. We endurance riders put our horses much more
in harms way than Max was in my yard. My horses walk out that gate to go
anywhere that I have to take them. The wheelbarrow you saw in the picture
was NOT in that place when we were trying to move Max.

I'm convinced the blindfold and the rush job were what caused Max to panic
and sustain a fatal injury. The sight of a beautiful horse crashing about in
a blind panic is indelibly etched in my mind's eye. I'm sure the driver
meant no harm. He used the "tools" in his toolbag of horse knowledge. These
tools may have worked for him in the past, but they backfired with this
sensitive animal. As soon as the blindfold was removed, Max was calm and
quiet, even with his leg dangling. He was brave and loving to the end. One
of his favorite things was to lick my hand, and he was licking it as he
stood there on 3 legs. He stood on 3 legs for nearly an hour waiting for the
vet.

My original post, was not an indictment of  this particular shipper or
commercial shippers in general. I am disappointed in his response to the
aftermath, but this hauler had a first class van. The driver cried with us.
Had Max made it to the trailer, he would have had a comfortable ride. My
point in telling Max's story was that anytime our horses are in the care of
a third party, whether it is a farrier, vet, trainer or horse hauler, we
need to be our animals' advocates. If our gut instinct tells us something
isn't right, we need to speak up and act on our animal's behalf and don't
assume that the "experts" have all the answers.

Max was a special animal. Many people loved him and recognized his beauty
and potential. He was a favorite of the vet who had the unenviable task of
euthanizing him. Max's life was short, but glorious. He wanted for nothing.
Except for a few seconds of terror, his life was peaceful and happy and he
died quietly without a struggle.We will remember Max as the class clown,
always entertaining us, and sometimes getting himself into trouble. He
taught us much about life and about youngsters and challenged our
horsemanship skills. I had raised foals before, but my husband had not. Ray
had a bond with Max . His death touched Ray as deeply as it did me. Losing
Max was like losing a child we had nurtured and raised. We were excited that
Max was going out into the world to prove himself and our dreams were
dashed. I have to think that it was Max's time and God is taking care of
him, or I will drive myself crazy.

I don't know when the tears will end and when I will be able to think of
that horse without seeing his mangled leg. I want to picture him whole, but
that picture isn't there yet. It is time to pick myself up and give my
attention to Star, who needs to be fitted up, to my mares, and to my two
beautiful fillies. One of those fillies, 10 day old Athena, is Max's full
sister. She looks amazingly like him. Perhaps she will be able to carry on
the dreams that Max began.

Chris Paus & Star
BayRab Acres







Chris and Ray Paus
Bay-Rab Acres
34805 W. 263rd St.
Paola, KS 66071
913-557-2469
http://pages.prodigy.net/paus/
"May your horse walk fast and trot easy."