One of the hardest posts I’ve had to write, and still struggling to find the way to go, but bear with me…
It is with the heaviest of hearts that we have had to say our last good-byes to Fox, who has sadly passed away very suddenly and unexpectedly.
For the 100’s of students, clients (and the odd celebrity here and there!) and everyone that met him he was more often than not, peoples “favourite” character at the farm. Soft, gentle, patient, approachable, loved a fuss and attention…. If you worked with him on a course or lesson you’ll know how good a teacher he was, in letting you discover how you, the human need to learn how every look, gesture, movement you make means something to a horse, and teaches them something whether you realise it or not. Your horse is your mirror….
On a much more personal level, he was all of those things and very much more to the people that knew him best, because he certainly didn’t start out that way… he came to us broken both physically & (almost) mentally, by a succession of people who think that ever increasing levels of violence, brute force, fear and sheer cruelty is the answer and yet have the gall to call themselves “trainers” or a “horse person”, rather than just admit you have zero ideas of what to do because YOUR usual one way of doing something isn’t working, blame the horse, it’s much easier, definitely much easier than realising you have NO idea of how a horse works and thinks.
Well guess what, it didn’t work.. He beat you.
By working him the way HE works, how every horse works and thinks, we ended up with our Mr Fox, and no, it wasn’t easy, he was one of the “hardest” horses i’ve worked in 25 years, because of what had been created before we got him… he taught me more in the first few months than any horse ever has and never really stopped…I had the joy of knowing him and being part of his gang for 14 more years…. all I did was listen, learn and guide him back to being the horse he always was and was meant to be. The soft, gentle, patient, approachable, trusting, kind, forgiving, loyal, cheeky, playful, intelligent, graceful, beautiful, my horse shaped shadow… my “baby boy” Foxy.
