Tuesday, January 26, 2010

But he can kick

Blue Hors Matine, the dressage sensation has died! It seems that she broke her knee in a freak pasture accident and had to be put down. For years now, I've watched this video with tears of joy from the beauty of it. Tonight, it's with tears of sadness.



I read somewhere that she was kicked in the knee by another horse who was out in the field with her. Such a tragedy!

My Annie was a kicker in her younger days. She has quite a lethal history too. After we bought her, we found out that she had kicked another horse in the knee and it was put down. Then, about six months after owning her, she kicked Scout's mother, Beighley, in the neck. Beighley used to boss everyone around and bite at them so, one day, when Beighley was snaking her head out to bite at Annie, Annie nailed her. Beighley's neck swelled horribly and we had her under vet care for ten days. The vet was coming out twice a day and giving her water with a tube, since she couldn't reach the water to drink, because of her stiff, swollen neck. As the swelling subsided, she went into choke on a wet mash. Long story short, the vet felt there was esophogeal damage and told us we needed to think about putting her down. Beighley made the decision for us when, one day, she got colicky. As my husband walked her around, she tripped and fell, breaking her neck, and dying instantly.

I've seen Annie kick my other horse, Riddler, in the knee. She liked him so it wasn't a hard kick. He didn't even swell up. We were lucky, very lucky! Even now, the other horses steer clear of her and her random kicks, which are rare, fortunately.

This morning, I noticed Yalla! kicking out at Scout. It brought back memories of Beighley, Riddler, and the other unknown horse victim. And then I read about Blue Hors Matine. What a kicker!!


But he can kick - song: All the Young Dudes, artist: David Bowie

14 comments:

Unknown said...

Thats really sad. Poor girl of yours.

Gail said...

A tragic loss!

Tammy Vasa said...

Butter is our kicker, but I think it started as self-defense as she is the low horse at our place. Once she tried to kick Windy on the trail & Windy spun back & nailed her. I never saw Windy so mad! I think a lot of it is because she has been rode by a child & when Case was younger, he couldn't correct her fast enough. It doesn't happen a lot but something I always warn people of if they get too close.

So sorry about Beighley. That was sad. :(

Anxious to see the video you posted - they won't play while I'm at work... will check it tonight at home.

Sherry Sikstrom said...

How terrible! Annie is such a petite mare! I guess just the righ time the right place.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

What a shame.

And what a horrible experience for you. Wow!

Boy, if someone is a kicker around our place, they are split off immediately. We have a couple of mares that aren't quite sound after being kicked in the knee, years ago. One we can still ride, but she definitely requires thoughtful care. The other never was quite sound enough to ride. That was a loss too. She would have been a phenominal little saddle horse.

Dan and Betty said...

Beautiful video. It's the clearest example of lightness in a horse that I've ever seen.

Thanks for sharing, even if it's sad.

Dan

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

How sad for all those horses. It makes me realize that I probably should not have put Bombay and Gabbrielle together in the round pen the other day when I cleaned stalls. Gabbrielle kept kicking at Bombay. I just chastised her, but trusted that she wouldn't actually connect with him. However, why risk it? When my horses have been separated for a while and then put together, they do get aggressive toward each other to work out the pecking order.

Fantastyk Voyager said...

I should clarify that Annie had an intensely traumatic past, lots of fear issues, some that still crop up once in a while. And Beighley was just plain nasty although she probably got more than she deserved. I really disliked Annie for years afterwards. Actually, it's only been the last several years that I have really developed a relationship with her.

Doesn't Blue Hors Matine just look like she's having FUN?

cdncowgirl said...

I'm not a dressage follower but I've seen BHM (on television) and fell in love. What a sad loss.

Ed said...

thats sad, but watching a hores dance to Lady Marmalade is really cool. Are all horses this talented or was this one a prodigidy?

Fantastyk Voyager said...

Some horses are more athletic than others, just like people. However, dressage is a higher level of training so many horses can perform well. Most haven't got the flair this one had though. With her head bobbing and her tail swishing she looks like she is really dancing.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Such a sad loss of an extremely beautiful talented horse :(


~Lisa

Shirley said...

Matine was truly beautiful and it's such a loss.
I too lost a good horse (Sparkle's grandma) to a broken leg from getting kicked by another horse. It was heartbreaking.

LuLo Designs/Blue Eyed Tango said...

She was beautiful that's just tragic! Is the tail swishing a good thing....does that mean she's enjoying it? Our dominant mare was a kicker at shows and we had to put a red ribbon in her tail. Made my daughter very uneasy and she even got mixed up in a bad situation that our trainer could have avoided if she would have observed two horses in her barn and then not put them side by side on a trailer at a show. Our daughter actually got caught in the middle of a fight (ran over) that should NOT have happened in the first place between two horses. I think if they're the dominant mare of the herd at home they just don't make good show horses.....unless they're trained at a very young age when in the ring with others to curtail the behavior as unacceptable. That's just the proof that human's expect one thing in the arena and the "natural horse" behavior is going to win out in the end. Hope Yalla is doing well....looks like you've had your share of snow!