Clint

The anniversary of having to have him put to sleep is coming up soon and I want to tell his story. It's a bit long but I think how I ended up having him is an interesting story and I just want to talk about him.

I got Clint when he was 28 years old. I didn't know I was buying such an old horse and never would have if I had known. He'd break my heart too soon and that's exactly what he did. I bought him in the fall from a horse dealer who's reputation I didn't know yet. I went to see him and actually almost didn't buy him because he was pretty spunky and I thought he might be too much horse for me. I couldn't check his teeth because he fought and reared. The dealer said he was 14 and he'd had him for ten years. The guy supplies movie horses and he said his name was Clint and that he'd been in a few movies. I suspected he was older than 14 but not over 20 and I was okay with that. He was a red dun, one of my favourite colours and I decided I wanted him.

I rode him all fall and the winter and even had his teeth done by a vet and asked him how old he though he was. The vet said he was probably about late teens or 20ish. He had all of his teeth and looked good. You can see from his pictures that he never looked like he was as old as he was. He was even featured on Fugly Horse of the Day as an example of how a senior horse can look because she was angry with people that have skinny old horses and say they can't help it, the horse is just old.

Anyway, in the spring he shed his winter coat and he had a brand on his shoulder. I traced the brand to a well known outfitting/trail riding place near Banff. I checked their website and there was a picture of a guy on a horse that looked like Clint. Turned out it was. I contacted them and asked if they knew him or remembered him. The owner got back to me and said "you could have knocked me over with a feather when I read your email". Clint was actually Sandy and had been the owner's personal horse and he'd had him since he was four years old and had just sent him to slaughter along with several other senior horses in the fall. A local guy who has made his fortune and built himself a huge tack store out of money from meat horses had picked him up and had provided kill certificates for the horses he'd picked up. Once a kill certificate has been issued the horse can only go straight to slaughter, nobody is supposed to sell or buy the horse. Supposedly it's illegal. Somehow this guy got around that and was selling horses to the horse dealer. Clint's previous owner (I couldn't get used to calling him Sandy) had decided to give the senior horses that were quiet as kid's horses but Clint and a few others were too much horse for a child and were sent off with the meat buyer. Clint as a registered Peppy San quarter horse who had first been trained for reining. He was born in 1977. 

At first I was devastated. My dream horse, which he was at this point although he had a lot of go, was going to be gone or unrideable soon. I was so angry at being lied to. It's okay to say I think he's about X number of years old but to give me a story about how he's had him for years and all that? I contacted a lawyer that deals with horse cases but he hadn't written Clint's age on the bill of sale. I created a FB page to try to warn people about this guy but not many people were interested and I named names and the guy that buys the meat horses is very well liked and people were defending him. Also, a local horse rescuer has the same name as the dealer.

I only had him for a few years but he was pure gold. Once he was at Spruce Meadows (international jumping venue) and we were in a colour guard. He didn't want to stand with the other horses when we had to stand on guard and would suddenly back out and take off. It made me laugh. You can't get mad at a senior horse that still has the gumption to be naughty. Later we had to parade through the grounds and there's one part where you go past 30 foot high reflective windows. I was so proud to see him actually prancing as we went along. The day we won a first in western pleasure I burst into tears after receiving my ribbon. I was so proud of him. I adored him. We did well every time in local shows. He was fabulous. He was the first horse I felt confident enough to lope on bareback after my head injury. 

I was still riding him and showing him the last summer of his life. He seemed fine. He was at the vet's on a regular basis to make sure he stayed healthy and had his teeth taken care of. He still had every one at the end. The vet once decided to let him go in the round pen where they do lameness exams and Clint was running around and then started bucking like a bronc. The vet was laughing and called out other staff members to come and see this 30 year old horse running around like a nut. At 31 years old he suddenly had a swollen sheath. We cleaned it but it went up his tummy as well so I got the vet out. He was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. Our winters are extremely cold and animals with this suffer terribly from the cold. I couldn't stand the thought of watching him decline and suffer so I made the decision to have him put to sleep while he was still happy and comfortable. We did it a week later. I still have his tail on a shelf right above me right now as I type this. The day of his death I went out and cleaned him up so when they took his body off the truck they'd know he'd mattered to someone. And it was our last bonding time. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. My heart was broken. Everyone was so kind and my best friend was there to support me.

Here are some pictures of my sweet, beloved boy. I have him as my background on my computer and I'll miss him for the rest of my life. His picture is also on the wall behind me. 

This is the picture that FUGLY posted for her story on how a senior horse should look. He was 29 or 30 in this one.

This is me showing him.

This is us in our colour guard stuff at Spruce Meadows.

This is him a few days before he went to heaven.

This is my very last picture of him. I started crying and couldn't do any more.