Riot
I am starting a new series about horses that I connected with. Not all of them are mine, and not all of them I knew for a long time. Like with people there are horses that we connect with more strongly than others. I used to struggle with that, but it's really okay. I love them all, of course, and I will always treat every horse with dignity and respect.
TW: euthanasia, horse death, and animal neglect/abuse
I first met Riot several years ago when a former friend purchased him for a very low amount. He was older, thin, and just generally not well taken care of in his later life. He came with an older gelding who was his friend who ended up being euthanized before the year was up. From the time I met Riot I felt something. I almost always do with older horses.
Maybe it's a respect that they've given their youth and their bodies to us, so I get very emotional about them. Especially when I see them end up in less than ideal situations when they should be enjoying their leisurely life of retirement or semi-retirement.
I really got to know Riot when he was used in the farm school that I co-owned, although after a few classes I stopped using Riot. He was clearly in pain, and although it was mentioned to his owner several times that behavior changes were occurring nothing was done. Riot did like attention from adults. I think the pulling and unbalanced riding of beginners and children were too much for his arthritis, teeth, and probably the malady of other untreated issues he was experiencing.
I only rode Riot once, but he perked up more than I'd ever seen him before during that ride as though remembering his glory days where he went to the NFR three times as a head horse in team roping. I've tried to find his videos, but I've never been able to.
I do know that every time I was near him, he would lay his head on me as if to ask for help. And I tried. I mentioned multiple times that he seemed to be in pain and needed to be fully retired. I offered to let him retire to my pasture.
Riot died a few months ago.
A death that could have been prevented, which is partly why his previous owner is a former friend and why I no longer co-own the farmschool. An inexperienced horse person and her friend were out at that barn riding horses and Riot was allowed to eat medicated goat feed, which has an additive in it called rumensin. This additive is extremely toxic to horses in very small amounts.
Riot acted like he was colicking. The vet came out, tubed him. I have no idea if the truth about what he had ingested was told or not. He ended up seizing and dying in his pen.
I was devastated and relieved.
I was devastated because no horse should die a painful death like that. If you have never witnessed a horse having seizures, I hope you never do as it's quite violent and traumatic on their bodies. And because they are so large and it's so violent, there is nothing you can do until it stops.
I was devastated because he spent the final years of his life unhappy in a dirt lot without shade at a shitty barn with shitty people.
I was devastated because it was so preventable.
But I was also relieved.
I feel like those quiet moments I spent with him when he would lay his head on me were him asking me to help him. I feel like those deep sighs when I would scratch him and let him just be was him begging for relief. And both of our requests were ignored because he was busy making money for someone despite his age and condition.
And so I was relieved that he was free. I was happy for him that he gets to move on to a happy green pasture with his old friend that he came there with. I was relieved that the pain was gone for him.
In retrospect, I wish I had offered to buy him more when I saw that he clearly wasn't going to be offered a soft place to retire and instead would be working until the day he dropped dead. I was giving my former friend the benefit of the doubt, and my regret is that it was ultimately at the expense of Riot.
Rest easy Riot. Run free.
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