About me!

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bftlovesRDA
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Re: About me!

Post by bftlovesRDA »

Another "wow" story! Glad you and your animals survived the tornado in one piece. And glad these are not common in New Zealand! Take care and I hope you have no more of these tornadoes to live through ever again!
B
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Stoneridge
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Re: About me!

Post by Stoneridge »

Jade

Jade was a horse that I owned which I had an amazing bond with and it was one hundred percent mutual. We seemed to have an incredible rapport with each other but it never began that way… far from it.

I had Jade for many years but one day while we were out riding she pulled up lame on a forefoot. I tried to figure out what was going on and somewhat dismissed it as a either a stone bruise or perhaps a bit of seedy toe. We returned to our paddock and my intention was to bring my farrier’s tools with me the next day to take her front shoes off and find out what was going on as I couldn’t see what was bothering her. It was most unlike Jade to complain about anything, this is not always a great trait as Jade’s disposition was one in which it generally had the meaning of being very serious if she let me know anything was amiss.

The next afternoon after work I drove to her paddock and removed both front shoes. I still couldn’t see anything wrong; there was no stone bruise, no signs at all of seedy toe, cracked heels, mud fever, sand cracks or anything of the sort. This was really perplexing so I phoned a local equine vet and they came out and looked at her. They also couldn’t find out what was bothering her but she was getting worse. The vet gave me some beaut for her (horse anti-inflammatory/painkiller) with the instructions to put it in her feed everyday and not to ride her at all, just rest her. At this point in time we were thinking that she may have pulled a tendon or similar which would correct itself with rest and time. If not then I would need to take her down to the vet clinic for x-rays to see what on earth was going on.

Nothing worked; Jade was getting worse and quite quickly had decided that putting any weight on her front hooves was not ok. I spoke to my vet and together we decided that the best course of action was to get her down to the clinic as soon as we could. X-rays were inevitable.

When we arrived at the vet practice they decided that they wanted to watch her trotting up and down the road on the road surface to try and determine exactly which hoof was the problem. We had been unable to determine which one up to this point as sometimes it seemed like it was both that she was favouring.

After some time I gave up trotting her up and down the road and I asked my friend that had come with me if she would mind taking over trotting her up and down so I could have a look. After a little while my vet said to me that he was pretty sure it was her right hoof, I said to Robert (my vet) I think you’re wrong, it’s the left. After watching her a little more he said “damn you’re correct, it is the left” Now that we knew which hoof was affected we were able to progress and take the x-rays, which was done immediately. I took Jade back to her paddock and went home to await the results within the next couple of days.

One afternoon I received the dreaded phone call of my worst nightmares. Jade had Navicular Disease. I had never even heard of this but I soon found out, it is not a disease as such just like ringworm is not a worm but still has that awful name associated with it. Navicular disease is where the navicular bone in the hoof displaces itself and turns which in effect gives zero support for the hoof and causes excruciating pain in the process. There was a medical procedure which could be performed which entails nerve blocking the affected hoof. This procedure can work well, however finding any vet in this country that would carry out this procedure or even consider performing it was nil as I quickly found out. The reason that nobody would perform this is because when a horse is nerve blocked they cannot feel or know where their hoof is, a lot like having really bad pins and needles yourself and not being able to feel your foot touching the ground. It is considerably dangerous and a horse can fall at any time which is extremely dangerous for them.

I tried various types of shoeing techniques which can help and in some minor cases can actually fix the issue. None of these worked, I tried all the drugs which the vet gave me for her and this also didn’t work. Once I had exhausted every avenue that was open to me then the end result with Navicular is put to sleep. This was my only option and for the sake of Jade and the pain which she was going through every day I had to opt for this. I was informed that the pain would not subside no matter what else they could do for her. I was losing my best friend and there wasn’t a darn thing I could do about it. I finally made the decision to end her pain and it ripped my heart out in doing so.

I have no idea what veterinarian advances that there are nowadays for this but I would hope that there are some in this area and that no person goes through the heartache that I did. I still miss her but have some very fond memories; we had hundreds of hours of fun and good times together. She was an amazing friend. T

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Stoneridge
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Re: About me!

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Just in case anyone was wondering about Navicular it use to be commonly associated with race horses that were raced at an early age during developmental stages. This in turn puts an enormous amount of stress on ligaments, tendons, bone development and density among a myriad of other issues which rear their ugly heads later on in an animals life.

Navicular is a degeneration or breakdown of the structures which hold the navicular bone in place, like ligaments, tendons etc. To the point that they can no longer hold the bone in place and the hoof basically collapses. A bit like a broken arm with no cast on it. You could also liken it to a puppy that is made to go out running with you at about 8 weeks old. The damage that you incur in doing so will inevitably destroy that puppy’s chances of having a long life due to a breakdown later on in life.

As Jade was a race horse when she was a lot younger, a long time before I had her this was the case with her. Another one of those cases where the financial gain outweighed the well being of the animal. "Ignorance is not bliss"

In hindsight we as humans learn about the damage that we do purely due to a lack of knowledge but learn later on what the consequences are. This also applies to our environment.

I’m pleased to be able to add though that nowadays there are rules and regulations that forbid animals from such stringent activities at such a crucial stage of their developmental lives.

Just so you know I am not an animal rights activist nor am I an environmentalist, I just purely and simply care and I do what I have to do when a situation is posed in front of me.

T
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bftlovesRDA
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Re: About me!

Post by bftlovesRDA »

Oh, such a sad story about losing Jade. You did all you could to save Jade. But I know that is small comfort for your loss. Thanks for going through the sorrow again by your retelling of the events. A poignant story.
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Stoneridge
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Re: About me!

Post by Stoneridge »

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.

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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.

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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.

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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
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bftlovesRDA
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Re: About me!

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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.
So sorry again for the loss of one of your beloved horses, Cody. But your decision to just leave alone the issue of who did this to him with that hot air balloon - was probably the best thing you could do. Thank you again for retelling something that had to be so sorrowful to retell.
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Re: About me!

Post by cmbj67 »

I found the time to read the latest stories at last. :)
I'm so sorry for what happened to Jade and Cody. Very sad. :cry:
Fortunately you all survived the tornado. I could be much worse. :o
Thanks for sharing these stories. :D
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Annelies
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Re: About me!

Post by Annelies »

pfffffffff what a stories Stoneridge, thanks for sharing!!!
Lots of love,

Lies

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Stoneridge
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Re: About me!

Post by Stoneridge »

Thanks B glad you are still reading.

Claudia, I was beginning to miss you, wondered where you had gone to!

Thanks Annelies, I wish some of my experiences were not real though.

Some are very heart wrenching for me even to this day. Re-telling them can be very difficult for me but as I have said before, my wish is that somebody will gain confidence, knowledge or even care a little about the world that we live in and the effect that we have on everything, be it good or bad.

I always have in my mind that "Every action has a re-action." If you think along those lines and look at the re-action then it is a good pathway of deciding what you do next.

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Re: About me!

Post by Stoneridge »

Fanta After Cody.
My friends Elaine and Eric were very distraught for me when they found out what happened to Cody and as a result the two of them hatched another plan to set me up with another horse. I seriously didn’t want to know as I had lost Jade due to another person’s incompetence and Cody because of an irresponsible act.
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Fanta

I was quite happy just not bothering with anything at all really but they insisted that I meet a yearling filly which they had named “Doris” God almighty, who on earth would give a stunning creature like her a name like that. There used to be a TV program over here and on that program was a pig named Doris, apparently this filly squealed like a pig the first time they ever touched her so hence she was named.
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Fanta and Hawk Son

Here we go again, I got suckered into owning her and the very first thing that I did was I change her name. She was now named “Fanta” which suited her perfectly. She was a stunning Chestnut, really richly coloured and she was not short of a spark or too either. So given that I decided with her fizz and colour then Fanta was just right for her. She was too young to be broken in so it gave me quite a bit of groundwork time with her. Not that she needed much as she was already very well handled.
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Fanta and Hawk Son

Fanta was the same age as Cody’s half brother “Hawk Son” and they were soon grazing together in the paddock where I lost Cody. It was difficult going back to that paddock but it had been a safe paddock for years aside from what had happened previously.

I tried really hard to bond with Fanta but somewhere along the way I had just lost the will to once again get close to anything. As much as I wanted to I just couldn’t do it. There comes a point in time where getting close causes far too much pain and you would need to experience that pain over and over again to realise what I am saying here. Kind of like getting zapped with an electric fence and then going back for more, seriously why would you want to hurt yourself again and again. I adored her and she was truly lovely in every way, she never did anything wrong and was always a pleasure to handle in every way.
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Fanta

The day came when I couldn’t cope with my emotions over another horse anymore and I advertised Fanta for sale. She deserved so much more than I was prepared to give her, so my resolve was to let somebody else give her that. It was not meant to be for me, I became somewhat terrified to even attempt getting close again.

In my eyes it was apparent that when I cared a lot then I would lose that which I loved the greatest and I couldn’t cope mentally with that again. I had basically shut down, this was the end for me and I knew it.
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