After the confirming of our 14 year old Irish Sports horse’s lymphoma we knew what needed to be done. After 24 agonising hits trying to wrap our head around it I made the call. From the moment he answered and I blurted out how much love I felt for this horse and how it had to happen because I loved him too much to let him decline and be prodded to give us only another 5 years David was there for us.
His words ring in my ears today. “When a horse owner calls time for their beloved horse then you have made that decision from the best of places. You’ve done the hard part by making this call.”
I already had the day in my mind. We didn’t want to wait too long and live with Vader knowing we were going to lose him. To have him absorbing all our sadness and worrying if he had done something wrong seemed really cruel. He was a soul horse and could reach right inside ypur heart and was very sensitive to people’s emotions. He came with us out to Norway and 3 years later made the journey back to the UK. He had been the best kind of a horse anyone could wish for! A true gentleman and a people pleaser. Not one nasty bone inside him.
We had our last 2 days with him. He ate ice cream (mango was his favourite), strawberries, sweets, chocolate (Lindor of course) and his favourite white cow parsley. He had nearly all of that!
Friday came and I really thought we weren’t going to make it through the process to be there with him. When David stepped towards us on the yard he focused immediately on Vader stood there with his tail chopped off. He put his hand out for Vader to smell and scratched him behind the ear. Vader dropped his head into the palm of his hand. He liked him and I loved that David’s main goal was to have Vader comfortable with him.
Lyrica (14) and 2 friends were with us and David took his time with each of us. We stood in the school and I was shaking so hard trying to fumble with my headfones. I needed to be there but I was so terrified of how it would feel. I was all fingers and thumbs and David told me it’s ok don’t panic. All the while Vader was stood with his eyes half closed while David scratched his star. When I was sorted and we were all ready I focused only on his legs and whilst still having his head scratched, Vader still stood in total enjoyment at this amazing head rub and then it was done.
Vaders legs immediately relaxed and it was quite possibly the most challenging and difficult thing I have ever been privileged to be part of. There was no pain. No stress. My spirit horse had absolutely no idea what was happening and I t was completely instant.
We had time to hold that dear boy to say our final goodbye and I absolutely knew in that moment we had made all the right choices for him. It’s not an easy thing to have to do. How can it be? It’s impossible to be any other than horrific but I do know that awful thing was made so much easier because of David’s experience, patience, kindness and sensitivity. I hope not to have to see David with our pony for a long time but when the time comes I am absolutely not able to consider using anyone else. I cannot recommend his services enough. Thank you so much from all of us and most importantly from Vader. Who is now free from any further pain. We made a contract with that horse the day we got him that we would love him to the end and we kept our end of the bargain.
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