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| Tim still looking great at 20! |
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On June 8, 2007 I had to say my final goodbye to my beloved horse Tim. He was only 21 but had to be put to sleep due to severe complications from colic. Tim was my best friend and a huge inspiration to me. If it wasn't for him I wouldn't be doing all of the things I do with horses today. I want to share his inspiring story of hope and courage with you to give you hope that you and your horse can also triumph over your adversity. You see, Tim was an out of control mess when I met him. He was hurting, afraid to trust anyone, and sometimes even dangerous to be around. Some even thought he was crazy. But with some special understanding and TLC (Therapy, Love, & Compassion) Tim prevailed over his problems and became my trusty Trail and Dressage partner as well as a very special Therapeutic Riding Mount that was loved and trusted by all who met him. A far cry from the horse I had met just a few years earlier...
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The first time I met Tim he wouldn't give me the time of day. He just checked to see if I had a treat (I didn't) and then turned and gave me his rear end view! That first meeting didn't make much of an impression on me, but six months later he did. That cute little paint that had stood quietly tied to the fence was now a horse so crazed it took two of us to saddle him. Then it took one shot of Ace to tranquilize him enough so that I could ride him! Thinking back that probably wasn't a very wise decision, but it was the only way I could get on him.
You see, Tim belonged to a friend of the trainer I was working for. He was the "extra" horse that never really did much, but had a nice personality so they kept him around. The owners eventually decided to let someone use him as a trail horse so that he would at least get rode. Unfortunately, something bad happened to Tim during one of those trail rides. The owner came home one day to find him all freaked out in his stall. So freaked she couldn't even get close enough to halter him. So she called the man who was riding him to find out if anything had happened on their ride earlier that day. He said that Tim had spooked and that they had some problems, but he wouldn't go into details. She told him she didn't want him riding Tim anymore. We never learned exactly what happened that day, but it had changed Tim...and for the worst!
After that incident Tim became more and more unmanageable at home. He got so unpredictable his owner was no longer comfortable handling him. She decided to send him over to the trainer to see if she could figure out what was wrong with him so that he could eventually be sold. I had been taking lessons and working for the trainer for about six months when Tim came back to the barn. I was trying to learn everything I could about working with horses because I wanted to get a horse of my own. Little did I know, Tim would test everything I had learned and then teach me what I really needed to know! The trainer also knew that I was wanting to get a horse, but because of my back problems, she knew it would have to be a very smooth or gaited horse. She had me try him. Tim had an extraordinarily smooth trot, so smooth I eventually bought him even though he acted like a lunatic and had to be tranquilized the first time I rode him. Sadly, what I didn't know at the time was that he had a legitimate excuse for his bad behavior, he was in pain!
Tim had just turned 9 but was still very green under saddle. He was also very spooky. I took him off of any food I thought might make him "hot" and that helped a little. Then I tried some calming supplements from the feed store but could never get consistent results. Actually the only consistent thing about Tim was his inconsistency. He was very frustrating to ride and very difficult to keep focused on the ground, especially if something was going on with someone else around him. I felt like I was working with a racehorse! Some days he would be fine, almost normal, but then he would blowup over nothing and become very scary to ride and even be around. I decided to take him back into the round pen and start him over as if he was a two year old...he certainly acted like one! So I started him on driving lines and that's when I noticed that he wasn't moving right. Up to this point Tim seemed to be moving OK, but on driving lines going in a circle, he did not look the same on both sides. His right foreleg had a different stride than his left. I didn't vet check Tim before I bought him because I simply didn't know better. He didn't seem to be lame, but something was wrong. I had my Farrier hoof test his feet and no problem was found. I also had my vet take a look at him and flex test his ankles, knees, and hocks but nothing showed up. On a straight line he looked fine, but you could see "something" when he was lunged in a circle. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear enough to determine what or where it was. That would soon change.
I kept working with him in the round pen and he was doing better, but as soon as I would start riding him again he would regress and was actually becoming uncomfortable to ride. Deep down inside I knew that Tim was a good horse, even though his antics often said otherwise. I had grown quite attached to him in spite of his unpredictability, but he wasn't really progressing under saddle and I was only getting more discouraged. I had been riding since I was 12 and really wanted to do dressage. I would ride other horses regularly and do just fine, but I couldn't get Tim to do hardly anything other than act up. On the verge of thinking I had made the biggest mistake of my life in buying him, something happened that would change everything. Tim slipped on a wet stall mat and got hurt! I had my regular vet check him after the fall and he found that Tim had injured his shoulder. He said to bute him and rest him and then we would see how he was in a few weeks. One of the instructors at the Equine Therapeutic Riding Program I volunteered with suggested I get a second opinion from a vet she knew who practiced holistic medicine. Since that was more up my alley, I decided to have her take a look at him. That decision would change our lives, and this time for the better.
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