The unlikely return of Basse

"Good things come to those who wait. Better things come to those who don't give up, and the best things come to those who believe"

I've waited over 7 months for this moment 💜✨ I'm finally back on board my Basse for little rides - shoeless and sound! I have begged and prayed for a miracle and it seems to have happened, after over half a year out of work Basse looks and feels sound enough to do a little bit of work.

I've given this blog post the title of 'the unlikely return of Basse' simply because truthfully, a few months ago I was at the stage where I was seriously considering having to have him PTS because he was 1/5th lame in walk and a lot worse in trot - if he's not even sound enough for retirement and to spend his days in the field, then I don't want him to suffer. He went suddenly lame at the end of October 2018, and whilst I initially thought it might have been a muscle tear or some form of bruise or abscess, after two months I had a heart breaking moment where I realised that it was more likely that the navicular disease and the long term effects of having suffered a bout of laminitis were all catching up with him and causing arthritic changes in his legs. Although he has a heart of gold, he's not made from the best ingredients and I've always been prepared for the fact that there is a high chance I won't get him to 20+ years. 

After chatting with my farrier, we decided to take off his shoes in December 2018, and give him one last year of nothing but time in the paddock and field. I had nothing left to lose, and I knew of some wild success stories of horses becoming sound after taking their shoes off and being given 6+ months of time off with Dr Green and Mother Nature 🌿💚 I didn't want to force his body to go through more injections than he's already been through and I didn't want to 'waste' money on X-rays and scans when I truly felt like the only thing that could fix him was time out in the field. The move over here from Finland last summer was tough on him, and I felt like his body has started to give up. Despite the fact that Basse initially improved after taking his shoes off, he seemed to become more stiff and unhappy in himself - although the loss of a horse is terrible, the look of your baby horse becoming increasingly melancholy is something I hope no one else has to go through. I was getting ready to call the vet and sort everything out when one day I noticed that he'd developed a nasty case of thrush in both front feet. I'd never expected him to get thrush as I was under the impression that barefoot horses couldn't get it, but you live and you learn! I started to use two different products to combat this and within a month his feet started to look better, and suddenly (unsurprisingly!) he started to walk better too and only took uneven steps when he stood on a little stone on his way to and from the paddocks. At last he was comfortable again and he looked happier than he had done over the previous month and I found myself with a bit of breathing space to decide what to try next...

Then 3 weeks ago, he decided to gallop across the field and if I hadn't witnessed this myself, I swear to you that I wouldn't have ever believed it. He'd not taken any steps of canter since October, and now suddenly there he was, galloping from the far corner of his field to the gate like a youngster... I couldn't believe it, but a small flutter of hope appeared in my heart. Could it have been that the thrush had been causing him to get worse after taking his shoes off? I decided to try lunging him a few times to see if it just me hoping for a miracle, but when I showed the videos to my farrier and vet, they agreed with me. Yes, he's stiff and yes, every now and then he'll take uneven steps but in no way is he lame or even properly uneven. I feel like this is proof how amazing Mother Nature can be, when given the chance to work with time, even miracles can happen. I certainly don't know what the future holds for us, but we'll take it day by day and week by week and I'm eternally grateful for each ride I get 🦄