Intro

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

The Sun Doctor
March 25, 1989 - May 11, 2009

Nearly three months after I started to work with Doc in a last-ditch effort to help create a maintenance program that would allow him to continue his beloved job as a school horse, I got the call from his owner saying it was not to be. Through her trusted animal communicator, she had a long talk with her beloved big red Thoroughbred and he said he was through. It had gotten really hot unusually early here in Arizona, and it seemed Doc was already feeling the heat. He has struggled in the summer, especially last year, with his skin conditions getting worse and the narcolepsy more apparent. So, he asked that he not have to go through another summer and confirmed that he doesn't feel like he's going to get well enough to be ridden.

His one request, before he was put down, was to have a party. And what might that mean to a workaholic horse in his final days? "Did he give you a guest list and a menu?" I asked his owner to lighten the conversation a bit. "Well, actually, he did!" was the answer. To Doc, a party meant he got to spend time with each of the people with whom he was close. He specifically wanted them to take him out on the property to eat grass. So, for several days, Doc divided his time between grazing with his human friends, standing in a pasture eating grass with his special horse buddies, and hanging out in his stall with his girlfriend next door. He looked so happy and calm and even had quite a bounce in his step.

On his last day, he went out in the arena with a group of turnout buddies and he ran and ran and spun and pranced and danced. It occurred to me that it could be nice for him to know he didn't have to worry about how stiff and sore he'll be in the morning, because the vet is coming early to give him the release he requested. So, today he can play. Today he can recall past strength and suppleness and let the adrenaline take over. We should all be so lucky to leave on our own terms, with plenty of time to say what needs to be said to all our friends.

For me, Doc's legacy is yet another layer of subtlety in helping horses find the connections in their bodies that keep them straight and fluid. He showed me that the way I was asking horses to rock back and lighten a shoulder was a little too lenient, allowing them to get heavy and lose the connection to the hind end when I thought they were just stepping to the side to rebalance. That might be the case once in a while, but with Doc it was an expression of an imbalance habit. My clients and their horses have already benefitted from what I learned from Doc, from refining our perception and feel and understanding of how these big, strong and deceptively fragile bodies balance and move.

Thanks for the lessons, Doc.

Doc on the job with his friends.
If you have a photo of doc to share, please email it!

"All I can say is he was definitely in charge and you had the privilege to ride him because he let you.  
He was the General."        Kate