28/06/2024
Today my beautiful Rev was laid to rest. This may be a long post but I cannot let my dear friend of 15years pass without telling his story ❤️
The day I met him I fell in love straight away. I generally don't like thoroubreds but his amazing soul captured me. He stayed at the adgistment center I worked at for 6 weeks on a spell from racing and I quickly discovered my initial impression was 100% correct. He was a cool calm guy with nothing but love for people but also a fire inside of him to excel in what he chose. His passion for racing was clear from the wins he had and the money he won and yet when he left I asked the trainer if he was ever for sale I would like to buy him. The trainer laughed and said his new owner had just purchased him for $180,000 and I had no chance so I just politely asked he keep me in mind.
Two years later after not seeing this trainer again he turned up on my doorstep without warning and said he had finished racing and he was mine for free if I still wanted him, I didn't hesitate to say yes so he dropped him off to me that very afternoon. The horse that arrived though was not the one I had met years ago. He was a bag of depressed bones and the trainer warned me he had sacked him as he had stopped even trying to win races, become totally unmanageable and then had gone to a rehoming place that had him for all of one day before they sent him back saying he was too dangerous and out of control for them to take on. I spent that afternoon strolling with him eating the lush grass of the laneways pondering my life choices and yet I could see behind the sunken sad eyes his soul was still the same and my heart still said this horse is special.
The next day I did the same and led him around letting him eat away and just gave him my love, I saw no evidence of the mad horse that had been described only a kind quiet and tired gentleman. The next morning I decided to start training so I brought him in for a brush and some ground work, as I started brushing he started getting agitated and by the time I was finished he was a hot mess, it was all I could do to keep control of him to get him into a round yard. As soon as I had him in there I let him go and he exploded, roaring, bucking, rearing, kicking and galloping around, you name it he did it. I tried to connect with him through this but I may as well not have existed so I quietly went to sit on the rail and watched his performance with my heart full of dread of what I had taken on. He went on for a good 20 minutes lathering himself up and churning the round yard up. While sitting there I decided to call him Revelation (Rev for short), ever the optimist I decided if I had made a huge mistake on this horse I would at least learn a whole lot trying to heal him. I promised him I would wait for him to be ready and we would find that wonderful soul that existed in him again eventually. He finally settled and calmly walked to me and laid his head in my lap so I hopped down and did a tiny bit of gentle ground work and put him away.
The next day I did the exact same thing but this time while I brushed he was calm and relaxed, as I walked him up to the round yard he faithfully followed me on a loose lead, I watched him carefully for the next explosion but it never came, I never again saw or even glimpsed any evidence of that mad horse again. I cannot claim to have trained him and fixed him and I can only explain it to myself that the bond I shared with him spoke to him and he knew he didn't need to be that horse ever again.
By the end of the next week I was riding him on a loose rein walk trot and canter and he just never put a foot wrong. While that fire I first saw in him was gone it was replaced with the most gentle loving relaxed soul I have ever seen. I grew dreams of eventing him at liberty which he quickly demolished by not being able to walk over a pole on the ground, his pure lack of ability had me in fits of laughter on the ground and so I decided to not have any expectations of this horse and to just enjoy what he had to give.
The first two years off the track he struggled with his health and his weight, there were more times than I could count I nursed him back to health including laying in the back yard with him for days but eventually he seemed to have stabilised and be normal.
When I moved to Mansfield things got tight and due to the cost of his upkeep and the fact I has Sammy for myself who was never going to be sold I made the heartbreaking decision to sell him. My beautiful friend was interested in him for her husband. On the day they were going to come and try him a bushfire started close by and we had smoke, firetrucks, police and choppers all around us, they asked if I wanted to do it on another day and I said no it is better for them to see if these things would upset him. True to Rev style he couldn't care less in fact just as the man was getting on our pet sheep came hurtling down the hill and straight under Revs belly and he didn't bat an eyelid. He went with them for a couple of years and I was blessed to be able to still see him all the time eventually though the husband decided to move onto another horse so I brought him back and to have him back in my paddock was such a blessing.
A while later his health deteriorated rapidly, he went from looking amazing to totally immaciated in only a couple of weeks. I had the vet out every second day and we couldn't find a diagnosis the only thing to do was keep trying new drugs and pray. Every time she came we deliberated putting him down but his will to live was so obviously strong we waited. As a last resort I got a lady out to do a NES scan on him, he could barely walk and she said she didn't think he was going to make it but perhaps the scan would make him more comfortable to pass on. Half an hour after she was finished he transformed before our eyes the spark to his eye returned and his whole body perked up. He then raced around the paddock kicking bucking and rearing in joy. I had never seen him do this before and as I stared in wonder I saw that fire in him returning. He never looked back again and quickly returned to a picture of health.
3 months after I had my daughter I decided to take him eventing. Looking back I was mad, my core wasn't healed from my caesarian and it seemed to slip my mind he didn't know how to jump but I think I was listening to the whispers of the universe. Two weeks beforehand I took him out to a cross country course to teach him how to jump and he was just beautiful. I could feel that old fire within him I had first seen, instead of racing though, his passion was now to please me and for us to be truly one together. He didn't know how to do dressage either so as we rode into our test I told myself I would just use it as a training exercise, we were only here to have fun anyway. As I guided him I annoyingly discovered my once amazing core had been obliterated and had to quickly learn how to ride without it. I gently showed him the idea of what I wanted and without hesitation he pulled himself up into and amazing frame curiously asking is this what you want? It was incredible. When we went into show jumping I realised he has never jumped one in his life so after a couple of quick and rough practice jumps I went in with the idea I was just going to ride him like I stole him! About 3 jumps in he got the idea of what to do and carried me over the course without me having to do a thing. Last of all was cross country. I struggle to describe the ride he gave me over that course. He took off from the start with all the strength in the world and all I had to do was to point in the right direction and he did the rest. His balance, collection and jumping was beyond perfection. We truly went as one soul together and I spent half the ride in tears of joy. This horse who had no idea what he was doing in a huge field of competitors came second!! The journey we had taken to get to this one moment was so huge and yet so worth it. He single handedly gave me the best ride of my life that day and I can only dream of sitting on such a horse again.
The years that followed he remained my faithful horse I would bring in when I wanted a lovely easy ride but I always wished I could give him more.
One day a friend of mine rang and asked if I might have a horse for one of her students, they couldn't afford very much but horses had made such a difference in her life she was desperate to have her own. I instantly thought of Rev and hesitated but the universe once again whispered to me to allow them to try him. I could see they were nervous and so wanted to impress me so I told them they didn't need to impress me they had to impress Rev. I would never allow him to leave if he didn't love them. But love this wonderful young lady he did so I decided to lease him under a contract that I could bring him home if I ever thought I needed to but that day never came. It was clear this young lady shared the same special bond with him that I did and not only that she gave him far more than I could. He was her one and only. To see him so very loved and looked after these last few years had been a joy and eased my heart missing him.
When the news came the other week he had a terminal illness I went to see him one last time, he placed his head straight in my arms and to feel his love one last time was truly a blessing that I'm so grateful to have had.
Now he is no longer with us there is a huge hole left behind but I have no doubt when I follow him to where he has gone he will be one of the first to greet me.
From the bottom of my heart thankyou my darling boy for the gifts you brought into my life. I thought our journey was going to be a revelation of learning and training but instead it was a revelation of how much these beautiful creatures have to give us once we simply give them our love and our faith.
Until we meet again my darling boy rest in peace and enjoy the green pastures xxoxoxx ❤️❤️❤️💔
