Thanks B. I'm afraid not all of my experiences are happy ones.
After Jade (RIP) - This is a sad one.
I never thought that after losing Jade that I would be remotely interested in another horse because she was so special to me, even the fights that we had with our personality clashes and stubbornness were all part of our growing, learning, loving and trusting each other.
One weekend I was at a friend’s horse stud farm and they mentioned to me that they had a young horse down in the back paddock that they had recently broken in. They told me that they didn’t know what to do with him as he was smaller than most thoroughbreds and he had a tendency to mooch along at his own pace, definitely not interested in running races but more plodding along behind enjoying the scenery. He also had an exceptional pedigree with top race horse lineage in there. I was thinking to myself that he sounded like my kind of horse and one which would not put me in hospital for a change.
We walked down to their back paddock and had a look at him, what a scruffy looking poor excuse for a horse he was, he was super friendly though and seemed really thrilled to see some human company and have some attention. I told my friends that I would have a little ride on him, more to please them than anything else but my recent experience pertaining to my loss was still far too raw to really contemplate another horse and I was at the point of just giving up riding all together.
I asked them what his name was and they told me that when they were entering his pedigree into their computer system at home they had a power cut, hence his registered name ended up being “Power Down” also given that he was relatively slow and would never see a race track of any kind. He was destined for competition, pony club or just a fun park hack for someone. Little did I know that my friends had designs of me owning him and nobody else. I think I was totally set up for this one. There was something of a conspiracy and well hatched plan to make sure that he was going home with me no matter how long it took them to ensure that this happened.
He was a nice horse with lovely ground manners and he was ok to ride, it was obvious when I was riding him that he was very young and so gangly. Very little co-ordination of any kind but he was eager to please and do whatever was asked of him from me.
I was telling my friends that I felt sorry for the poor person who would have to shout out his name of “Power Down” every time they wanted to catch him. Then Eric told me that was only his registered name, his paddock name was Cody. There was a little story behind this one as Eric had been up north fishing and came across some guy who was doing the same. Eric told me that the fisherman had the most incredible and talented dog that he had ever come across and the dog’s name was Cody, hence they had given Power Down the honourable paddock name of Cody. I really liked this name and it suited him.
Well guess who ended up with Cody and it didn’t really take much convincing either, I am such a sucker sometimes! Actually scratch that and make it either “most times or all of the time” Cody was awesome and we began an exciting future together, we had our moments as often is the case but nothing ever major. I took Cody to a few local pony club outings and he was great fun. There were only ever a few events that I could enter him into though because of his young age but we still had great fun and he loved going out and seeing other horses and to new places that he had never been before, he just loved life and every thing and every one in it. For being such a youngster he was incredibly sane and level headed as well which really surprised me, he was always just so darn calm and unperturbed about anything, almost like a little Jade mini me.
As time rolled on we became closer and started to bond, I was enjoying Cody so much and it was a great pleasure to just go out and about plodding around the road and for Cody to experience different sounds, sights and smells. All of which was a fantastic grounding for him in the way of training. He just loved going out as much as I did and would usually greet my car at the paddock gate when I arrived. I spent as much free time that I had available with him after work and also every weekend. Constantly training and teaching him new things, he was a smart boy and picked things up very quickly, his eagerness to learn anything was a real bonus, you could almost see a smug look on his face if he learned something new.
One afternoon I had just walked in the door from work and the phone rang, it was the lady who owned the paddock (Jane) where I had Cody and all she said to me was that I had better get down to the paddock in a hurry as she had already called a vet and he was on his way. I didn’t even ask what was wrong and I don’t recall even putting the phone back on the receiver. All I had going through my mind at this point in time was that Jane would never phone me at that time of the day unless it was very serious. I raced out the door followed by my father who was saying something to me like; you’re not going there on your own I’m coming with you. So with that we took off down the road in my car, I must have been almost in a trance with worry because I nearly hit another vehicle travelling up the road and only just averted a serious crash by my father grabbing hold of my steering wheel and turning my car just in time. I still swear to god that I never even saw that other car.
The paddock was about 30 minutes away from my house but we arrived there in record time, Jane was there and so was the vet which she had phoned. I took one look in the paddock and saw Cody standing there; he looked ok to me at a first glance until I got closer. Then I saw his front leg, his cannon bone was snapped in half and had shot through the skin, I choked back tears as I knew too full well what this meant for him. I lifted his head up and his cheeks were sucked in with the agony that he was going through. His half-brother who shared his paddock with him was carefully trying to lick the wound and help Cody. I cradled his head and held him close whispering to him that this was not happening, how could it happen to my beautiful boy and so soon after I had lost Jade. The vet said to me that there was absolutely nothing that they could do and that he really needed to put Cody to sleep as soon as possible, I knew this but didn’t want to accept it. I asked the vet if I could have a few more moments with him. I just didn’t want to let go, it was like a nightmare all over again and Cody had so many years of a fantastic life to live through yet, it wasn’t fair at all.
The vet called time to me and gave Cody the injection, as he slowly collapsed onto the ground I never let go, I went down with him and stayed on the ground with him for what seemed an eternity. I didn’t believe what was happening and thought that I would wake up any moment and it would be just a nightmare and not reality. That never happened, it was really happening and the final taste of reality was when the truck turned up to take Cody’s body away forever.
I don’t remember travelling back home that day, everything became quite blurry for me. Jane had asked my father if I could give her a call when I was up to it and she would tell me what had happened. A few days later I called Jane and she told me that there was a hot air balloon flying over the area and they appeared to get into a bit of trouble, they had actually landed in Cody’s paddock and he had been so frightened that he started racing around the paddock scared out of his wits, which is when he managed to break his leg.
I’ve never found out who that was, I had heard on the grapevine that it was some entrepreneur from over the North Shore area – but that is all I ever found out. I never had any desire or strength left to even pursue it. And to be perfectly honest, what good would it do either myself or Cody. Some things are best left alone and it’s greater to cherish the memories of what we had rather than destroy myself and stew with anger or retribution. T