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Wednesday, 18 April 2012

Sad news - Kingsley

Those of you who follow Wiola's blog will already have heard the sad news that Kingsley was put down this morning.

http://freelanceinstructorsdiary.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/last-chapter-kingsley-aka-stilo-venture.html

I first met Kingsley, Wiola and Pauline when he came here in 2010, following a "navicular" diagnosis.  It was clear right away that Kingsley had as many problems with his hind legs as with his front legs, and he had the most crooked movement I had ever seen.
Despite this, he made good progress once out of his wedged shoes; as he grew better balanced feet his movement also started to normalise and we all hoped that he would follow the same happy path as so many other horses had done.

However, he suffered a severe bout of azoturia in 2011 and although he recovered from this and came back into ridden work it was becoming clear that all was not well.

His whole story is on Wiola's blog, but I think its fair to say that he has proved to have an incredibly complex series of issues, affecting not just front and hind legs but his back and quite possibly his metabolism as well.

What was the cause? Perhaps we will never know. As Wiola says in her blog, the fact that in the end we couldn't solve his problems and help him more is perhaps the hardest aspect to come to terms with.

He was a dear horse - kind, genuine and with a tremendous love of his work - and he could not have had more dedicated owners than Wiola and Pauline.
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10 comments:

  1. Unknown18 April 2012 at 20:17

    Thank you Nic, this has totally set me off again!
    Although deep down I know it was a good decision to end his suffering some part of me will never quite come to terms that we didn't find the reason for his problems. I hope that one day we understand much more about metabolic/feet/biomechanics issues and are able to help horses like Kingsley to come back to pain free life.
    We reminisced with Pauline what an incredible progress he had made at Rockley and also about the time at the end of last year when our hopes were high for his future and his soundness. His health was very volatile though and he could go from being great one day to very stiff and uncomfortable the other day.

    Thank you for being part of our life with him.
    Wiola

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  2. Wolfie18 April 2012 at 20:18

    Yes, this news is very sad indeed. Wiola did everything she could. Words seem inadequate at a time like this.

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  3. cptrayes18 April 2012 at 20:36

    So sorry Wiola. Nobody could have tried harder.

    Nic I have put a post on HHO pointing to the research. It's a great bit of work.

    C

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  4. Nic Barker18 April 2012 at 21:00

    "part of me will never quite come to terms that we didn't find the reason for his problems"

    You took the words out of my mouth again...me too...there have been so many horses who came here as "last chance saloon" and have done well - and its so unfair that Kingsley ultimately wasn't in that group, despite all our hopes. Even though he wasn't mine, they all feel a little bit like that once they have stayed here...

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  5. Dom18 April 2012 at 21:09

    I am so sorry to read this :(

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  6. BruceA18 April 2012 at 21:41

    So sorry to hear this Wiola, we all followed Kingsley's improvement, and I'm saddened to hear he lost his fight. Our thoughts are with you.

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  7. rn18 April 2012 at 22:21

    A sad but brave and loving decision. I am so sorry for you.

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  8. amandap18 April 2012 at 22:29

    I am so deeply sorry Wiola. xxxx

    RIP Kingsley. x

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  9. Unknown18 April 2012 at 22:49

    I'm so very sorry guys that this update was not about Kingsley making a miraculous recovery :( Thank you so much for your comments.

    Nic - yes, it's such a shame as he would be such an amazing ambassador for all the good work you do. In a way though I think he proved how much you can improve a horse with many biomechanics abnormalities and give him another year of pain free life. The vet we had watched the videos and photos and was amazed how many problems he had before Rockley and how much he improved. It's just a shame it wasn't good enough. It could be environment, could be diet, could be an old accident or illness. We will never know.

    Our vet said as a goodbye to Kingsley that he taught her a lot and that she was amazed by the things done at Rockley...

    RIP Mr Trouble xxx

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  10. Kristen Eleni Shellenbarger19 April 2012 at 00:43

    I just came across her blog and I'm so saddened by this :( I know the levels of dedication she went through as I face something similar...I can only imagine her sadness of not be able to do more, but she should know..she did everything she could.
    I too, hope, in the future we know more about hoof/metabolic/biomechanics as they are so dependent on each other for success in our horses. Some are just more fragile and are better 'teachers' demanding we learn more as owners. The learning never stops.
    xoxo HUGS to Wiola and Nic for helping her boy

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