laura
Grand Prix Poster
going for a splash
Posts: 3,867
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Post by laura on Apr 11, 2009 20:52:49 GMT 1
such a sad time Sarah and my heart is heavy for you. Whilst all horses passing makes us sad there are some horses that just seem to reach out in a special way or have been ablt to teach us in a way other humans rarely can.
He will live on in your heart and he sounds quite a champ.
hugs
Laura
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lucia
Grand Prix Poster
Grand Prix Poster
Missing you always Sweetheart.x RIP Mai - 1996-2007
Posts: 2,120
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Post by lucia on Apr 11, 2009 21:06:57 GMT 1
I don't know what to say, how terribly sad. He sounded a very special chap.
RIP Piper x
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yan
Grand Prix Poster
Intermediate Poster
Posts: 1,057
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Post by yan on Apr 11, 2009 23:48:54 GMT 1
I am so sorry Sarah,is it possible to take comfort from the fact that you were ment to find each other for how ever short a time.X
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Post by Liz on Apr 12, 2009 1:38:20 GMT 1
I'm so sorry, Sarah, and I'm sure that many of us have indeed learned a lesson. Thanks for sharing - and "Thank you, Piper" too.
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tl
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 2,680
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Post by tl on Apr 12, 2009 4:47:57 GMT 1
So sorry. Sympathy.
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carol
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 3,084
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Post by carol on Apr 12, 2009 6:24:24 GMT 1
I just want to add....no doubt Piper would have been happy to live out his life naturally on the moor, but us meddling humans have made it almost impossible for the Exmoor breed to live as they were meant to. After nearly wiping them out, we have brought them back from the brink of extinction. Thanks to the work of the Exmoor Pony Centre and their supporters, and some dedicated hill farmers, they have survived, albeit not without a lot of human intervention. With that comes a heavy moral responsibility, which is why I think you are so amazing Sarah. Not just for your wonderful equine skills, but for taking on a pony that you knew would remain forever wild and truly feral, and for understanding and respecting that quality in him. He was never ever going to be domesticated, but if he had to be touched by any human hand there could be no other than yours. I feel priveliged that my little Scrumpy pony has allowed me into his space, and shows me trust and affection, but I'll never forget that he comes from a legacy of ponies that have survived quite happily without people since the ice age. He will always have that 'edge' to him, not to Piper's extent, but it will always be there. Piper was incredibly lucky to have been with you, and we are lucky that you have shared your experiences with him with us. Thank you. And hugs again. C XX
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Post by Yann on Apr 12, 2009 7:04:46 GMT 1
Sarah, how terribly terribly sad. He was a very special pony, and thanks to your kindness and generosity he had several extra years of life happily eating grass with new friends instead of the short and unpleasant trip to the abbatoir that awaited him. Don't beat yourself up about what has happened, nobody could accuse you of not doing the best you could for him and I have no doubt the things he taught you will help many other ponies in need in the future.
Take care x
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Post by jackiedo on Apr 12, 2009 8:00:25 GMT 1
Sarah, do you think, bearing in mind Donnas post too, that certain breeds react differently to anaesthesia? I was told some breeds of cat do?
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Post by marianne on Apr 12, 2009 8:13:37 GMT 1
I'm so sorry Sarah. I've followed Piper's story from the beginning - and can only echo what's been said about you offering a haven of light and hope where previously he'd only known fear and violence.
RIP Piper. xxx
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dizzy
Grand Prix Poster
Posts: 2,875
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Post by dizzy on Apr 12, 2009 8:14:54 GMT 1
What a very sad and tragic thing to have happened, my thoughts are with you Sarah. RIP Piper, you were loved x x
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Post by stormhorse on Apr 12, 2009 8:35:18 GMT 1
so sorry to hear the news.
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Post by donnalex on Apr 12, 2009 9:04:55 GMT 1
Ive looked through the blg but cant find why Piper needed to be sedated. What was he having done? Whatever it was, you tried, which is more than many will do.
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Post by SarahW on Apr 12, 2009 10:15:44 GMT 1
Piper was having his feet trimmed, that's all. He could cope with me putting a feather duster down his legs but he was never able to cope with a hand below his knee. There was no way that he would have ever let anyone pick up one of his feet and indeed he found it difficult to stay with anyone other than me for more than a second or two, even with a halter on. He couldn't cope with men near him at all.
During the first year that I had Piper, I spent hours and hours and hours (keep adding them on) working with him gently. I used to sleep on his hay so that he would eat it around me and hold his feed bucket while he ate - if I moved so much as a thumb, he was off. Later I used the touch and move away technique and used clicker training to bring his head around to me. It took me 66 hours to get his headcollar on the first time. I continued to work with him - desensitising his body as far as I could and I got as far his knees on the front legs and his pelvis along his body. Piper's prey instinct was wired to the mains, in that he could never let go of it, he tried so hard to stay with me even when his front legs were quivering and his whole body was saying leave! leave! Having been a wild stallion on Exmoor he would never have met a kind hand - he was DNA tested when he was six and I dread to think how that was handled. At a distance, people could say that I failed with him but when people got to know him and to see how it was, they were amazed that I could get anywhere near him at all. He would be gently driven into the barn area and he would snort and race about and then he would turn towards me, make himself look about 18 hands high and come and touch my hand. I'd give him a click and a treat and gently touch his face. He loved to have his mane gently tugged and the base of his forelock massaged and then he would let me in to his neck area where I could stoke him and tell him he was fantastic. Although I had never forced the issue with him, I had gently pushed for progress and I began to realise that it wasn't going to happen. In the second year I decided to let him be himself (basically a zebra without stripes), to accept what I had and although I got him in on occasions, most of the time he was out with the various ponies I have in the fields. He commandeered the field shelter in the summer and got under Chancer's rug in the winter and he began to play and to neigh, things he'd never dared do before.
I'm not sure whether it's a breed thing that means that some horses react differently to sedation and anaesthesia. In Piper's case I think it was more to do with underlying adrenalin levels and an over-riding need to flee. He fought the sedation every step of the way and began to try to get up the instant he felt he had any power at all.
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Post by jackiedo on Apr 12, 2009 10:24:04 GMT 1
Sarah, you were fighting thousands of years of evolution. Please try and be kind to yourself and remember the good that you did.
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Post by marianne on Apr 12, 2009 10:34:57 GMT 1
I'm not sure whether it's a breed thing that means that some horses react differently to sedation and anaesthesia. In Piper's case I think it was more to do with underlying adrenalin levels and an over-riding need to flee. Sarah, don't know whether it's a breed thing or not, but I TOTALLY BELIEVE that some horses fight the sedation like mad. I have a little mare I rescued a year ago and she's had some horrible things done to her. Injecting sedative failed (horribly) and sedatives in the feed had no effect whatsoever, if anything, they made her MORE wary that something horrible was going to happen. Last month I was able to worm her - for the first time (after a year trying to get her comfortable with me playing with her mouth). Just before I did so, I rang another friend and said "if you don't hear from me within an hour, could you please call an ambulance and get over here?" Survival is totally the overriding reflex, and sometimes the trauma of previous events will always be at the back of a horse's mind. I hope so anyway ... xxx
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