This is Beau:
He is a welsh pony. My parents bough him fo me when I was 1, and he was 1 as well. So, I called him my little brother, or my twin.
Pretty soon, when I was 6 years old, I got into the horsey stuff. I owned another horse named Marty, and he was something... bucking when you go around the corners excitedly, it took me 2 years before I could show him. Anyway, I jumped horses at the age of 6. Yes 6. So, Beau was growing up all so fast, and we boarded him at a near barn for him to used to other older and different horses, like a horse taller than him, but the same age. At the time, he thought he was the big man.
It was until we were both 9 when my trainer taght me to lunge. So pretty soon, I was lunging Marty, while my trainer was training Beau. I had now 2 responsibilities including feeding them, excersising them, etc.
Beau was not... the best at training. But he managed to get 8 champion ribbons in his life time. The picture of Beau is him, 26 y.o., his last show.
Beau was now training in Hunter Jumper, Eventing, an beginner (walk, trot). We were all so proud of him.
When he turned 10 years old, we had a cake for him, but something was off. He wasn't eating, only drinking. We took him to the vet, and soon enough, he had cancer. The most devestating part was he only had about 10 more years to live. We heard that news on his birthday.
We conntinued on in life, but it was my decision to lay it down with jumping, so we had a year off from jumping, practicing ground rails and on the last day, I did a tiny little cross rail. He didn't see it too great, and bolted. I fell off early, but then he tripped and sprained both of his back legs.
We, again, took him to the vet in standing wraps, and the doc said he was okay, just keep him in standing wraps, and add a medison to his daily grain.
It healed in two weeks, and we were back to walk trot canter, and one crossrail a day. Then next week, two cross rails a day. Then three. Then four. Then so on, until it was showing season and he could jump a course.
He was amazing, and continued to show, and be grumpy, for 17 more years.
We were both 27 when I found him in his stall, very skinny, and obviously not eating or drinking.
I rushed him to the vet, and was bawling as I got in there as well.
At 4:03 AM, Beau went to Pony Heaven.
I was happy for Beau. Being sick like that told me he didn't want to be on earth anymore, and it would've been selfish for me to keep him on earth.
And he had a great life, with a great buddy, Marty.
That was my first real loss. I've experienced barn losses, but they weren't my horses. It's nice to know that Beau is not suffering, and is probably stocking up on more mints 🙄😌
Bright Sunshine with a few High Clouds
