Huggy Bear IV

In this post i am celebrating the life of my beloved Huggy Bear whom i let go this 26^th of March 2016. Woke up to find Huggy colicing but despite immediate veterinary intervention, there was no hope. He was 29 years old.

Huggy entered my life in October 2004 on my return from a life-changing trip to Pat Parelli’s ranch in Colorado. He lived in Kent. He was 17.

In May 2005, we moved to the glorious Limousin region of France for a 2-years sabbatical. Huggy followed.  And this is where he met 1-year old Pagosa. Without a shadow of a doubt Pagosa & Huggy were soul mate.  This picture was taken 30 minutes after they first met.  Pagosa was Huggy’s pony until the end and Pagosa was with him until the end. 

...We passed our Level-1 Parelli together. Bang! on the nose! You were very forgiving...

Huggy inherited the skin thickness of his TB’s sire which means the virulent horse flies from the Limousin were a nightmare for him particularly when he first arrived in France. One summer’s day he got stung so much his neck doubled in size. But i think his Connemara’s dam must have told him ‘What does not kill you my son, makes you stronger!’ After this episode, he got on okay with the local army of creepy-crawlies.

Whilst in the Limousin, Huggy & Pagosa roamed free on the 1,000 acres-farm of St Marie including a 10 acres pond...

Huggy mastered the art of plastering himself with mud in the heat of summer, a natural protection from horse flies and ticks...i loved you even more when you were plastered...

...you had a beautiful reddish bay shiny coat which was achieved without brushing, without expensive pampering products, just rolling in the mud and let the rain wash it off...

With his previous owners, Huggy was rugged up most of the time. The reasons were 'too cold', 'too sweaty',  'too many insects', 'too muddy', 'too skin thin' and so on...Once with me, i progressively ditched the rugs and he lived pretty much rug-free until the end of his life. The naked truth is that healthy horses do not need ruging. It is scientifically proven that every time one puts a rug on a horse, one removes a layer of lanolin which is naturally produced by the horse to protect itself. Even a thin TB skin does not need ruging if the horse is healthy and able to move around even in a small paddock. On this picture in the middle of winter, it was cold. It was so cold the pond was frozen solid yet Huggy lived well and rug-free. Only later on in his live did i sometime feel necessary to sling a rug on his back. It happened during winter nights when it was cold and humid and his immune system was weak.   

...Huggy had no confidence around pigs and turkeys...

Save ones' life and hang on!

How does a herd of horses deal with a dead member naturally?

On the 26th of March 2016, i made a mistake! Huggy went surrounded by all of us; the pregnant cat, the husband, the dog, me, the two ponies including and most importantly the one i refer to as Huggy’s pony. i believe it is the one being which gave him most comfort everyday and particularly on that last day. The mistake i made took place after Huggy’s death. i did not keep his body long enough for his friend to grieve better. It lied amongst the ponies for 3 hours. They tried to wake him up by pawing on his body. They sniffed him. But i should have kept the body for much longer as opposed to had it removed just a few hours after death. The ponies looked at it being loaded into the trailer. As soon as the trailer departed, Pagosa followed the trailer sniffing the ground and looked at the trailer driving away until it could not see it anymore. It does break my heart to just think about it… For the sake of tidiness (and god knows why) i made the mistake to rush into removing the body too quickly. Whilst working with the feral ponies at Wicken Fen, i came across a fair few dead ponies during the 2.5 years doing my early morning checks. Everytime, the dead bodies were cold and stiff and other members of the herd were slowly carrying on with their lives. Even the yearling whose dam was dead was following the rest of the herd. The normal and natural process of grieving (if such a word should be used) in a herd is whenthe herd moves away from the dead body leaving the body behind and not the other way around. The mistake i made is that i removed the body from the herd and it was after the death of my own horse that i realise what the natural order is! i observed it all these years but did not learn from it until that day. Another lesson learnt (the hard way) is the only thing i can say now… but let not be my mistake be yours in the same situation…let the herd paws, tries to revive, sniffs etc over a dead body for as long as it takes and until the herd naturally moves away from it then dispose of the body.

...In March 2007, we all moved back to the UK in the Fens in Cambs...

...riding in Sandringham with friends...

...In the Fens during a long reins session...

In the last year of his life, Huggy had 3 episodes of eye infection. Apart from these infectious moments, he always kept an eye on his pony and on the mares. Huggy was gelded at 5 years old.

...2009, we got married...

...and menage a trois worked for us...

...with Simon on this chilly sunny winter day...

...with Joss in St Marie who adapted a French song (Prendre un enfant par la main) as an epitaph for Huggy...Beautiful, it makes me cry...

Epitaph for Huggy by Joss

Prendre un cheval pour copain, (take a horse as your friend)
et ne penser qu'à son bien, (only think about his well being)
prendre le temps de lui faire des câlins, (take the time to give him cuddles)
Prendre un cheval pour copain ! (take a horse as your friend)


 Prendre un cheval pour copain, (take a horse as your friend)
et pour la première fois, (and for the first time)
pleurer tout bas, oui mais pleurer de joie, (cry quietly, but cry of joy)
prendre un cheval pour un roi. (take a horse as your king)


 Prendre un cheval par le coeur, (take a horse from the heart)
lui apporter du bonheur, (bring him happiness)
tout doucement effacer ses malheurs, (slowly erase his grieves)
prendre un cheval en douceur. (take a horse softly)


 Prendre un cheval comme il vient,(take a horse as it comes)
pour consoler ses chagrins, (to console his sorrows)
et même quand il galope moins bien, (and even when he does not canter as fast anymore)
Prendre un cheval pour copain. (take a horse as your friend)


 Prendre un cheval pour copain, (take a horse as your friend)
Savoir lui donner du bon foin, (know when to give him some good hay)
sans oublier l'amour dont il a besoin, (without forgetting all the love he needs)
Prendre un cheval pour copain. (take a horse for your friend)


 Prendre un cheval pour copain, (take a horse for your friend)
ne former avec lui plus qu'un, (to be at one with him) 
vouloir aller ensemble toujours plus loin,  (want to go together further always)
Prendre un cheval pour copain. (take a horse for your friend)


 Prendre un  cheval pour copain, (take a horse for your friend)
faire avec lui un bon bout de chemin, (travel with him a good long way)
prendre un cheval pour le sien, (take a horse as he is yours)
Prendre un cheval pour copain. (take a horse for your friend)

The grey pony joined the herd in 2013. On this picture Huggy guards Pagosa from Autan by always positioning himself between the two. Huggy was a difficult horse to keep as opposed to his pony who is such a good doer. The way i managed my land enables to keep the horses together as a herd, yet enables those who need to eat less off the lush grasses. Huggy had a fine intelligent mind. Until his arthritic joints did not allow him anymore, he knew how to access the lush paddocks by going under the fence.

That's my boy!

...October 2015...

The power of care

Huggy suffered from PPID and needed daily administration of Metformin to control the condition. Furthermore having lost all his upper teeth, he was fed bucket full of porridges each day. Some folk would say it was hard work to care for him. Admittedly it was! But hard work and caring are the best lessons one can learn in life. Hard work and care go together hand in hand. Huggy has shown me that i had to reach deeper to truly care. Through this process i am now more appreciative of life and of others. All of you who cares for another sentient being knows what i am talking about it here. The opportunity to care is always around. For my friends who start to have elderly horses, i would encourage them to not give up on them and to deploy all your forces to care for them. How unfortunate is one who lets slip through the fabric of their own imagination this opportunity to care! Caring gives strength & power FULL STOP

Here are two books i would recommend reading or re-reading even:
'Kinship with all life' by J.A. Boone. In his book, Boone shows the indisputable facts that attitude to openness, friendliness, humility & a sense of humour form bonds for true harmony.
'The last walk' by the bioethicist Jessica Pierce. This book presents reflections on our pets at the end of their lives. An intelligent and informative book for all.

...Huggy with his beloved pony...

...And with me forever...