Morena died at the age of 32 in 2015
We heard of Morena whilst looking for a horse for a friend of our daughter Elizabeth, who wanted to keep a horse of her own at our place. She had been found starving in a field, covered fromhead to toe in sweet itch and suffering from Laminitis. The woman who had found her was nursing her back to health but could no longer keep her and she was being advertised as an ideal childs pony. Of course, once we heard of her plight we had to go and see her, and immediately fell in love with this poor, sweet natured horse. She was the perfect pony for Elizabeth’s friend, totally bomb proof and we thought she would be ideal , but her family decided she wasn’t suitable. By this time we already felt committed to saving her, and so Morena joined our family bringing our herd total to 5.
She quickly settled in and it wasn’t long before her sweet itch had disappeared and her weight was back to normal and luckily after treatment her laminitis never returned. She became everyone’s favourite, children loved her for her kind nature and safe ride – she had a funny habit of breaking into a very slow canter alongside the other trotting horses whilst out on a hack and was perfect for teaching children to canter for the first time. At her prime she was also great for light adults to ride and we had a few happy riding years with her until she started to suffer from arthritis and we gradually reduced the riders weight until she was just taking out the odd 5 year old , before retiring her completely.
Two winters ago she had me really worried when I found her laying down in one of the open stables, unable to get up. With Clive’s help we managed to get her back on her feet and I walked her around to ease her stiff joints and thankfully she seemed ok for the rest of the day but it did prompt me to phone the vet and mention the possibility of needing to have her put to sleep very soon – however much I loved her I did not want her to ever start to suffer. Strangely, though she had seemed to be going down hill for a while, that seemed to be a turning point, almost a conscious decision on her part to keep going , and apart from her low weight, she has become so much stronger, I no longer struggle to pick her feet up and she can even hold her weight again to have them trimmed.
It always makes my day to see her covered in mud – proving to me that she can still get down and enjoy a good roll (and more importantly get back up again!) I don’t know her real age as her paperwork was most likely fake, but even going by that, she is heading towards 30, and with her hard past life, it is amazing that she is still alive.
She is such a funny little character, often acting very shy and victim like, but then surprising us by going up to another horse and moving them on so that she can eat their food. She can be very bossy when she wants to and if she gets annoyed she makes a squealing noise like a dinosaur and stamps her feet like a stroppy toddler, she really makes me smile with her funny little ways.
You can read more about our horses and other animals in my book ‘No Time For a Siesta‘, available from Amazon for kindle or in paperback.
