MiLo Minis
Well-Known Member
I apologize because I know this probably doesn't really belong on this forum but Willie was the epitomy of a driving horse and more of you know him here than on the other forums. My boy passed away the beginning of June. He was no spring chicken at 28 years old and full of arthritis but it was way too soon for me. Willie was, and always will be, the most important horse in my life. We had a ton of good times together and I consider myself the luckiest person in the world to have had the pleasure of him in my life. He was extremely athletic, intelligent and kind. He had a heart bigger than a Clydesdale's! And to think he came into my life as a scrawny baby just because he was so tiny and cute he could walk under my thoroughbreds. I only trained him to drive to give him something to do.
Willie had a locking stifle which was manageable as long as he was kept really fit and not stalled. He developed arthritis in his hocks in his late teens which I got shots for and feed additives that kept it mostly in check until his last year or so. None of it slowed him down till the last year when I had to quit driving him for show as he could no longer back up without it hurting him. I didn't use him for breeding because of his conformational issues but I kept him a stallion because that was who he was.
Willie always gave me his very best and I was not once ever disappointed with him. He got comments like "I would never have believed a little horse could move like that!" He is the only horse I have driven that could truly collect and almost trot on the spot in harness. I have one of his dressage test scoresheets that the judge wrote a personal comment on. It says "The most beautiful test I have ever had the pleasure to judge." And another that made me chuckle as the judge used "horse with long mane" to remind her which test was his. I won't ever forget the day at Mott's Trial when everyone was calling "He's up the hill! The little horse made it up the hill!!!" Others doubted him but I knew he could do it. His cones course at Eve Dexter's trial when he knocked what seemed like minutes off of everyone else's time and they were all going Wow did you see that?! Willie LOVED his cones! There was also the time I got us stuck in a swamp and he patiently hauled my butt all the way through it (just over a mile) without complaint while the insects sucked him (and me) dry. Or the way he would just attack a water hazard or plunge into the river on one of our fun drives on the Grand.
Willie was the horse that everyone noticed when they came to the farm for a visit. He wasn't the most perfect specimen of equine conformation but he had such character and charisma that he stood out. He was always a stallion and a gentleman at the same time.
He was boss man in my boys herd and the best teacher he could be - he never used any more force than was absolutely necessary to keep the boys in line. He raised Ari to take his place and that was his downfall. Ari turned 6 this year and started to take over some of Willie's duties. There came a day when Willie stepped back and let Ari become the herd leader. All of this occurred without any undue agression, Willie just started keeping more to the outskirts and letting Ari rule. I had planned to pull Willie out and put him in a retirement paddock with his buddy GT once I saw Ari getting too agressive but I didn't get the chance. I had a show the first weekend of June and the day before we left I was down talking and feeding handfuls of grass to Willie who was standing by himself. I told him I would pull him out when I got home. We arrived home late Sunday night/early Monday morning and Willie was still standing in the same place. I asked Mike if Ari had been after him but he said no, Willie was just keeping to himself and he didn't have a mark on him so that was probably true.
Monday morning I went out and found he had lost a considerable amount of weight and was dehyrated. I don't think he had been eating or drinking while I was gone for the 2 days. I fed him some grass and he ate it. I brought him out of the paddock and put him in a paddock by himself with some hay and water. He wouldn't eat or drink unless I gave it to him by hand. I called the vet and they said they would get here when they could as they had a busy morning.
I went back out and got a brush and comb and started brushing him and combing out his huge long mane which he always loved. He laid down and I laid down with him still stroking his neck. He put his head in my arms, as he always liked to do while I stroked his cheeks, and he passed away. I don't think there was anything "wrong" with him except that his job was finished and he was tired.
MiLo's Willie Be Good 1983 - 2011 My first Mini. Simply the best.
Willie had a locking stifle which was manageable as long as he was kept really fit and not stalled. He developed arthritis in his hocks in his late teens which I got shots for and feed additives that kept it mostly in check until his last year or so. None of it slowed him down till the last year when I had to quit driving him for show as he could no longer back up without it hurting him. I didn't use him for breeding because of his conformational issues but I kept him a stallion because that was who he was.
Willie always gave me his very best and I was not once ever disappointed with him. He got comments like "I would never have believed a little horse could move like that!" He is the only horse I have driven that could truly collect and almost trot on the spot in harness. I have one of his dressage test scoresheets that the judge wrote a personal comment on. It says "The most beautiful test I have ever had the pleasure to judge." And another that made me chuckle as the judge used "horse with long mane" to remind her which test was his. I won't ever forget the day at Mott's Trial when everyone was calling "He's up the hill! The little horse made it up the hill!!!" Others doubted him but I knew he could do it. His cones course at Eve Dexter's trial when he knocked what seemed like minutes off of everyone else's time and they were all going Wow did you see that?! Willie LOVED his cones! There was also the time I got us stuck in a swamp and he patiently hauled my butt all the way through it (just over a mile) without complaint while the insects sucked him (and me) dry. Or the way he would just attack a water hazard or plunge into the river on one of our fun drives on the Grand.
Willie was the horse that everyone noticed when they came to the farm for a visit. He wasn't the most perfect specimen of equine conformation but he had such character and charisma that he stood out. He was always a stallion and a gentleman at the same time.
He was boss man in my boys herd and the best teacher he could be - he never used any more force than was absolutely necessary to keep the boys in line. He raised Ari to take his place and that was his downfall. Ari turned 6 this year and started to take over some of Willie's duties. There came a day when Willie stepped back and let Ari become the herd leader. All of this occurred without any undue agression, Willie just started keeping more to the outskirts and letting Ari rule. I had planned to pull Willie out and put him in a retirement paddock with his buddy GT once I saw Ari getting too agressive but I didn't get the chance. I had a show the first weekend of June and the day before we left I was down talking and feeding handfuls of grass to Willie who was standing by himself. I told him I would pull him out when I got home. We arrived home late Sunday night/early Monday morning and Willie was still standing in the same place. I asked Mike if Ari had been after him but he said no, Willie was just keeping to himself and he didn't have a mark on him so that was probably true.
Monday morning I went out and found he had lost a considerable amount of weight and was dehyrated. I don't think he had been eating or drinking while I was gone for the 2 days. I fed him some grass and he ate it. I brought him out of the paddock and put him in a paddock by himself with some hay and water. He wouldn't eat or drink unless I gave it to him by hand. I called the vet and they said they would get here when they could as they had a busy morning.
I went back out and got a brush and comb and started brushing him and combing out his huge long mane which he always loved. He laid down and I laid down with him still stroking his neck. He put his head in my arms, as he always liked to do while I stroked his cheeks, and he passed away. I don't think there was anything "wrong" with him except that his job was finished and he was tired.
MiLo's Willie Be Good 1983 - 2011 My first Mini. Simply the best.
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