The sad truth of PSD; the penultimate post.

I have spent the last few months mentally battling with myself over Carats soundness. I have spoken to friends constantly and have tried to think as positively as possible.

Last week I hacked him down the road and he felt really off. After his out of charecter behaviour over the last few weeks I realised I had to get this straight for once and for all if he was feeling any pain or not. I called the vets and they managed to squeeze me in on a end of day appointment.

My fantastic vet came out and we trotted him up, he could see straight away that he wasn't quite right and flexion tests confirmed that my boy was indeed quite sore. We lunged him and it was obvious straight away that he just couldn't use his back right correctly and was dragging it and not lifting through. The vet nerve blocked him to see what/ if any difference that made. After a rest we trotted up and lunged again, although he wasn't totally sound still there was a marked improvement to show that the suspensory issue was still there.

Carats definitely improved for a while, after a long rest period and very gentle hacking (walk and no hills) he started to feel ok again. However, with upping his work load to include longer hacks, hills and trot work he just couldn't cope. After much thought and discussion we decided the best thing to do for him would be to retire him with the hope that he can have a long and happy good few years, eating grass and cantering round the fields.

My happy boy on our last hack

I am still in contact with his first ever owner. Jenni had Carats from when he was newborn and has always offered him a retirement home should he need it. When I got Carats I never thought we would be taking that option, let alone in just over a years time but here we are. Jenni said she would love to bring Carats home. She still has Carats best ever friend Herbie, he hasn't bonded with any other horse since I owned him and I wonder if he has just been waiting for his friend all this time.

So, next week Carats will be going back home. In the year I have owned him he has cost us a small fortune but he has given me so much. I have done my first dressage competition, my first fun ride. Learned to lunge, long rein and care for my own horse. We've jumped, dressaged, hacked and galloped. He is true and kind and I am going to miss him so much.

This blog will be closed once he goes, but I will do one last post after this to let you know about his trip and arrival back to Jenni and Herbie.

On Tuesday it was a gorgeous summers day and we decided to do one last hack, we avoided hills and mud and just had a potter up to the canal in the bareback pad. Carats was perfectly behaved and strode out smiling. I am sure he knew, he just stayed by the canal for a long time and chilled while he stuffed some grass. It really was a lovely final ride, I am sure, somehow he knew.