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I went to go and check on Connor (pure bred Connemara 6years old) who lives out 24/7 (16th February 2023) to give him a feed, he usually leaves all his buddies and comes bounding to see me. He was stood 10 yards from me, by himself without his field mates, but would not come over.. he was stood at the water trough but wasn’t drinking.. looking out of sorts.. I went over to him, offered him an apple core from my pocket, normally he would already be interested when I put my hand in my pocket, but no he didn’t want the apple. The day before we had done arena hire at Attington for some showjumping practice and he was his normal self, showing no signs of being unwell at all. He was competition fit, ridden 5 times a week.

I popped his headcollar on and brought him out of the field, he wouldn’t even eat the grass in the next field which was lush and green, the grass he without fail, daily tries to grab a few mouthfulls of as we go to the stables. My gut told me there was something seriously wrong.

I got him in the stable, offered him a drink, which he took as I lifted the bucket up for him, I took his temp which was raised, 38.2 so not massively high but raised. I offered him more food but again he would not take it, not hay or bucket feed. For a greedy native my alarm bells were ringing. He had a wee, which I caught in a bucket, (he often goes in a bucket for me, it was unusually brown and very strong).

I called the vet and within 20 minutes they were there. He was given some drugs, Buscopan and Flunixin as they suspected colic but he wasn’t really showing any colic signs, no rolling, not looking uncomfortable or in obvious pain but his gut sounds weren’t great and he had a raised heart rate of 60bpm. The normal heart rate is 40bpm.

For me I did not see it as colic, he is not a colicy horse, not stressy at all. I thought he had eaten something (being the greedy native) and it was some sort of poison. I requested the vet to take bloods as they would give a clearer indication of any toxin he may have ingested. I thought as his paddock was on a footpath that perhaps someone had accidentally fed him something poisonous. 2 hrs later there was still no change in his demeanor, head low, lethargic, reluctant to move, off his food.

I called the vets back and the bloods had come back, high toxicity, they now suspected Atypical Myopathy as his muscle enzyme levels were off the chart. So I rushed him to Blueberry Farm Hospital, it was about 6pm by now. At the hospital they could then give him fluids via a drip which was his best chance of survival.

The vets did not initially suspect poisoning or Atypical Myopathy as it was mid February which was considered very early for Sycamore poisoning.

At the hospital I had to sign his life away and was told whilst we had got it early, beyond giving him fluids there is nothing else they can do. He picked up a bit and I spoke to the vets at 11pm and they had run new bloods and the levels looked slightly better, I was told to stay positive.

They called at 230am and he had gone down hill, showing signs of neurological distress so we agreed to let him go. I am so heartbroken, so devastated. For a horse to be so well and fit and literally die within 12 hrs is horrific.

I have had the most amazing journey with this fantastic horse. From buying him in Ireland all on my own as a 3 yrs old from to doing loads of fantastic events, amazing hacks, horse holidays, riding club camps. He has been such a good friend, I only came off him the once in 3.5 yrs. Brilliant lessons with Amelia Cranmer who has been with me from the beginning. He would have been 7 this June..far too young to leave us. He was supposed to be the horse I grew old with. I feel completely bereft.

Enjoy your horses everyone as you never know what’s round the corner. I loved life with Connor and miss him everyday.