Tregony lived with us for five and a half years. He came when the riding stables he worked at had to close. We had been looking for a companion for Alli (Alezane) and got to hear about a riding school in Winkleigh that was looking for homes for their horses and ponies. Because Alli has to come in at night during the colder months, Michele, his previous owner was concerned that he would be unsettled by himself after a lifetime of living and working with others (that was how Wicky got the job of 'the companion's companion'!)
He didn't have any really 'favourite' foods, he seemed to relish every morsel of short feed he was given. Each morning and evening his head would disappear into his bucket, not to be raised again until even the smell had been licked away. The sound of his steady rythmical chewing was broken only occasionally, by a deep, contented sigh.
In the matter of treats, however, it was a different story. Carrots and Polo mints were always firm favourites - and, (oh, mmm!) ... sugar lumps!.... Whilst he grudgingly accepted the daily ration of swede and apple alongside the carrot fingers in his feed, he drew the line at being offered them as treats!
He would close his lips very firmly, wrinkle his nostrils in a sort of refined disdain, and give you a look of reproach that would have you immediately gibbering apologies and searching in your pockets for another sugar cube!
Tregony was a Cornishman. Corrine, one of his previous owners brought him from Cornwall, we think, from Tregony itself. His next home was with Alison, where he worked in her riding stables and became great friends with a horse called William who looked after him and told him what to do! From there he moved to Michele's riding school and chummed up with a pony called Ginger who also fought his battles for him and generally looked after him.
Tregony may not have been the brightest thing on four legs, but he was loving and gentle and what he lacked in brains he more than made up for with a true heart and a willing spirit. Michele remembers when they built a small cross-country course at their stables. It was thought that Tregony wouldn't be able to manage it. Not only did he do it in good style, but in the end he went round five times, putting in a faster time each round!
Unfortunately, all his hard work over the years meant a lot of wear and tear on his joints and resulted in arthritis, but a low dose of medication and a supplement helped to keep him reasonabley pain free for most of the time. When the cold wet days made him ache his medication was increased until he was comfortable again and the weather improved.
We will never know for certain exactly how old Treggy was. His vets and equine dentist were all agreed that he was at least four or five years older than anyone had previously thought. That means that he must have been 35 or 36 years old when he died. Over the years that he was with us he remained remarkably fit and well. He was a "master good do-er" as our friend Linda would say and, until last summer (2005), we had to be careful that he didn't gain on too much weight and put unnecessary strain on his arthritic joints.
One of his few consesssions to his great age was that the horn of his hooves grew only very slowly, which made it more porous and easier for bacteria to get inside and cause an abcess. Fortunately, on most occasions when this happened, he got relief within a matter of hours - as soon as he showed signs of lameness the vet or the farrier were called in to lance a small hole in his hoof to release the pressure. Once or twice he had to have antibiotics to get to a deeper abcess and once, when he had a troubesome infection, he needed a seven day course of antibiotic injectons. He was his usual stoical self until the sixth day, when he was being given the injection in his rump. Finally, it seemed that his bum connected to his brain and he backed away from his breakfast (!!) and stormed up to the furthest corner of the topmost field and wouldn't come down again all day.
He came out of the winter of 2004/5 very well so, after the flush of spring grass, it came as a shock to realise that he was becoming unthrifty. His teeth were checked and, although he had lost several molars, his remaing teeth were causing him no problems or difficulty chewing his food. But when adding two feeds of a conditioning mix designed for veteran horses only just enabled him to maintain his weight, a full blood test was carried out. The results were excellent, kidneys, liver, you name it - were all funtioning normally. But from then on it was a struggle to keep his weight on, athough he managed to keep at the bottom end of his acceptable weight range even through the cold wet month of January 2006. In fact, during his last few months Treggy had become relatively agile again, his stride lengthening, he was leading the way up to the top pastures.
For a couple of days in early February he had lain down for a number of hours but had, as usual, got up ready for a late meal. We weren't suprised to see him laying down again at breakfast time on 7th February, it was soft and misty - just the sort of morning that Tregony would choose for a lay in. But today was different. He somehow let us know that he wasn't going to get up again. He wasn't distressed or in pain, in fact he was quite relaxed. We didn't want to believe it and told ourselves that it wasn't unusual for him to lay in until the afternoon. But the afternoon came and although he had moved his position he was not getting up. It was time to call the vet. He was given an injection and died very peacefully at 6:40pm.
We all miss him dreadfuly, and although we know that life must go on - it is all the poorer without him. But when, in the future, we remember Tregony with love and laughter and sadness that he couldn't stay forever, we will also remember with pride that he died as he had lived - with great fortitude, gentleness and patience.
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