Eole - march 18, 2010

Today will remain as a sad day. Eole's state of health has not improved. He was used by the club yesterday, and this morning I find his left foreleg is warm again, and aching. The poor chap clearly suffers despite the bandage and the treatment. The vet will be called again, and it is clear that he will have to be out of work for a long time. I would not have believed that such a situation could affect me the way it does. The fact that we went together, until so recently, so close to the joy of Haute Ecole is not the dominant factor in my feelings; I daresay that in reality it is the sadness one's gets when a friend is in pain..
The club management asked me to assess a new horse for them, freshly arrived. A registered Selle Français, liver chestnut gelding of 8, medium-sized, bearing some resemblance with Eole at first sight. He had been presented by the trading agent as well educated to dressage with easy lateral work. As soon as I was on his back, the resemblance with Eole simply went away. The back of this horse was so hollow under the saddle that it looked like an improbable, shaky bridge bewteen a forehand leaning heavily on the bit and a hind that was sluggish and completely disconnected. He was not able to canter properly because of this lack of connection. His so called ability to lateral work was in fact the symptom of blatant lack of straightness. The club decided to turn the poor animal down back to his merchant.
A sad day indeed.