Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Jan Mutchler jmutchler@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I was very lucky to have a special horse enter my life last December.  He
had all the qualities I was looking for, especially the kindness and trust I
saw in his eyes.  A horse that I felt would truly get into my heart and help
make it full with the joy of having that "special" buddy.  After only eight
weeks of riding and enjoying him, tragedy struck.  We will never know what
happened and can only surmise he took a horrible awkward fall that caused
injury to his neck.  He was also in colic mode from the pain, his nose was
inches from the ground, unable to lift up his head.  We got him to a trauma
facility and the vet said he thought his neck was broken.  Fortunately,
numerous films and testing indicated it was not broken and that he probably
had some type of soft tissue injury.  I practically lived at the clinic,
counting the drops passing through the I.V. tubing.  He would nicker,
shuffle over to me, still unable to lift his head, press the front of his
face into my shins and stand like that while I bent over his neck and
massaged the buildup of fluids under his neck.  There wasn't anything I
wouldn't have done to save this buddy - and we did save him.  We are back on
the trails and he gets more of my lunch than I do.  What did he teach me?
He taught me that there is no limit to the love I have for my horse; that
there are no boundaries as to what I would do for him; and there is no
greater joy than turning a tragedy into a triumph.  And, although Cheefers
and I did not get a start on the riding season like I had planned, that's
ok, because he also taught me to wait.
Jan Mutchler



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