Rocky (or Myshallman, Shamrock or Rockstar) was one of those beloved neddies whose name morphed over time. If you know, you know.
He arrived from Ireland as a youngster, with a rope embedded in his neck, which when the pressure sores healed, left him with stripes of white hairs; a permanent reminder of his sad beginnings.
He was lucky to be bought by a lovely, caring man who let him grow and then started him under saddle – riding him often and providing a safe and comfortable life.
Then, a bad accident left Paul unable to ride. When he was able, he would take Rocky for long walks together around the village and life was still good. Unfortunately, things took a terrible turn when Paul was diagnosed with cancer and within a month he was gone.
Paul’s ex-girlfriend kindly took responsibility for Rocky’s care- but as time passed she met with health issues of her own, which made the task of meeting Rocky’s needs very difficult. As luck would have it, in stepped old friends to help and kind, sweet Rocky, (who was now unfortunately very overweight), found himself in the care of retiree Linda and her husband Kev and their wee flock of Soay sheep.
Rocky received lots of love, attention and veterinary care but although Linda would ride him from time to time, they were unable to manage his weight and general health issues. Two years down the line they felt over-whelmed by the responsibility and approached us for help.
When Rocky arrived in June 2023, he weighed in at well over 600Kg and immediately embarked upon a slimming programme, which was a huge challenge for us – and him – at that time of year.
He had a congenital defect of his right, hind fetlock and was not quite sound; thankfully medication helped with this. We then suspected Equine Cushing’s syndrome (the most common endocrine disease of older horses) and he tested positive. A daily pergolide pill became the norm.
Once he was feeling better, Rocky became much more active and we used groundwork to help his flexibility and understanding of cues – we even tried riding him but decided retirement was the best option for him.
Our eventual decision to call time on lovely Rocky was one of the toughest to make. Chronic joint pain can be a serious cause of suffering in horses – and humans.
We had managed Rocky with weight loss and pain meds throughout his time with us and he had been happily ‘field sound’ for a long time. We then started to notice that he was lying down less, clearly having some issues with getting back up. This is something all horse owners should monitor.
Winters are hard on arthritic horses and when his field mates Gizmo and Totty also came on the radar, we felt it appropriate they should all end their time with us together.
RIP Rocky – you were such a sweetie and it was a privilege knowing you.
