Loopy Roo

Today has been a very sad day :( I have had to say goodbye to my bestest friend, Rupert. I got Rupert in 2007 when working for Bruce and Ali. He used to be a racehorse, then was with various eventers before coming to me to teach me the ropes of eventing! I had a great season out eventing on him, before he sadly got an arthiritic injury which meant he could no longer be ridden. As he had been so wonderful and was generally still healthy we retired him and he has been living out his days in a herd of horses up at West Hall in Byfleet. He never fails to put a smile on his face with his cheekyness and quirks. He has kept us on our toes the past 6 years, with small injuries and weight problems but always been a cheery little chap and just generally enjoying life. Despite that, he has been quite poorly recently so we thought it was the kindest thing. He always drops weight through the winter, but we usually feed him lots and wrap him up in rugs and he does ok til about February/March and then it isnt long until the grass starts growing. But just after that nasty storm we had he dropped off masses of weight, very suddenly. We weren't sure if perhaps the storm had stressed him out, so we pumped a bit more food into him (there wasn't much more he could eat!) but this week he had taken a turn for the worse. We were scratching our heads and worrying as to why he was getting thinner and thinner despite all the feed he was having. We had the vet out on Monday and they did blood tests. The blood tests came back, and the vet said there was a huge excess of protein in Roo's blood, and he also found a tumour on his chest which had rapidly developed. He expected, after being told what we were feeding Roo and also looking at just how thin he was, that some sort of cancer had taken hold. The vet advised he may only live a few more days, and although probably not in pain, he could soon feel some discomfort. So this morning I headed over to see him, and say my goodbyes. Despite knowing it had to be done, and it was the kindest thing it was still so hard. I have sold horses before, which is sad, but not the same. And we have had cats put to sleep before, but I think with a horse, the partnership is somewhat different, making it that much harder to say goodbye. The past few years, he has been a rather special case with a lot of special needs but I think that has just made me more attached to him knowing he really needs us. Saying all of that, our last hour couldn't have been more perfect together. I sat with him while he had his breakfast, and he kept trying to knock off my wooly hat (his favourite annoying trick!). He didn't finish his breakfast but decided to take a walk around the field. I walked by the side of him and when I slowed down or stopped, he just looked at me almost to say 'cmon would you!' so I continued to walk with him. He stopped under a tree at the other side of the field and rested his head in my arms by my chest. Roo normally hates cuddles and will only let you have one before pulling away and eating grass again. I am convinced he knew it was time, as he stood there with me stroking his face for about 20 minutes. So we just stood there having our last few moments together, having cuddles and kisses. He was in quite a bad way by the time today came, extremely under weight, with scabby skin and diarrhea as well as a lot of lumpy tumours. I think his body had just about given up on him, with the cancer taking hold so quickly. It wasn't nice to see him in that way but he was still his old self, being cheeky, but he definitely knew it was time to go. The vet came, so I gave him one last big squeeze before leaving him with Anne and the vet. By now, he will be munching grass in the sky with his old pal Nimmy. RIP Loopy my beautiful boy, one day we will meet again.