My Boys
Ready Eddie
The Pirate King
Jades Aleuf

READY EDDIE

April 24, 2009

As some of you already know, Robby and I made the decision to put our beloved old man down today. The arthritis and ringbone that had crippled him, but was manageable, suddenly became acute a couple weeks ago and though we tried everything we could, and hoped he would pull through like he had so many times, it became apparent this episode wasn't going to ease. It was very, very hard because the old coot was still pretty game despite the pain, but we know we did the only thing a loving and responsible horse owner can do. That's the problem with having them for life...the plot and the number of chapters may be different, but the story always ends the same.

Ed taught us an incredible amount...for me, he was the first horse I really, truly had to learn how to RIDE (or end up on the ground). He was my first horse, that I owned "all by myself", period...a heady and often scary responsibility. He took me to my first shows, and gave me the first taste of both success and how much hard work it would be to continue to succeed; he showed me how to get back on when I fell off, and also how to dial the emergency room when I couldn't ;-) For Robby, and I as well, his retirement years taught us the endless patience needed in caring for a gimpy, finicky, cantankerous hard-keeper...a horse like that isn't easy, but wow, you sure learn a ton more about horsekeeping that way!

I will miss him so much, his quirky little mannerisms, his queen-ishness, the way he would start raising the roof when you got out of your car GIMME MY GRAIN LADY!!, the head flipping, the NOODGE NOODGE of that hard nose when the carrots didn't come fast enough, the way he would stand forever with his butt propped on the fence, scratching his butt and hind legs, the way he would take a big drink of water and then hold onto it till you came within range and then SPLOOT it down your back, the way he always had to rearrange ALL the cones in the arena....he was, from start to finish, his own horse, and a hell of a guy. I'm honored to have been part of his life.

Run free, old man, you will be greatly, greatly missed. Give my love to Pirate.

Ed, whose show name was "Ready Eddie", is a Thoroughbred gelding we think was foaled about 1980. He was race born and bred, but the bulk of his life was spent with an eventer who competed him to I believe prelim. His conformation didn't allow him to hold up to that, however, and he ended up with lots of leg problems, pinfired and nerved to keep him sound.
He was more or less retired when I bought him in the mid-90's. He was my first horse, and I was just looking for a something I could afford and do lower level dressage. Eddie was happy to do something that easy and he taught me a lot about "woah". And falling off gracefully, and navigating emergency rooms, and getting back on. We did training level dressage. I retired him from showing when his legs just got too ouchy in 2003, then retired him to a life of leisure for good in 2006. He's now owned by my sister, and lives a life of spoiled senior ponydom in Altadena, CA.

Relaxing on a summer afternoon in 2008.
He loves his carrots!
Robby riding Ed in 2004.
Sunday morning snooze.
Job well done at a dressage show in Moorpark in 2000
Just hanging out in 1999.
Robby and Ed in June of 2006 after moving to Altadena
So proud of him!