Quality Prince was a thoroughbred gelding born on 25 October 1987. He raced 95 times for 12 wins, 12 seconds and 14 thirds, earning total prize money of $125 000NZ.
I was this horses' owner for the last four years. The amount of money he won in his career was unimportant to me. I loved this horse and renamed him Deamo (Latin: I love you). He taught me to trust horses again and took care of me when we went riding together. He was always so sweet and accepted my less than perfect seat and my contradictory aids.
Deamo suffered a paddock accident on Friday 22 March 2013. He fell heavily against a fence post while cantering and fractured his pelvis. The Vet was called and the diagnosis made. We were out of options and he was in terrible pain. We had the Vet euthanise him humanely in his paddock. He was 25years old.
Our equine dentist, Allan, once told me...
"In a herd environment, horses that are old, sick and the lame fall behind the rest of the herd. There they become prey to wolves and other large predators. This is the natural way horses die in the wild.
We take horses from their natural surroundings and remove the threat of predators. In doing this we accept that sometimes we have to play the part of the wolf."
Because we loved Deamo, we had to be the wolf last Friday. He died peacefully in the arms of my partner, with her tears on his neck and her words of love in his ear.
We will both miss this wonderful horse. I couldn't have asked for a better equine friend.
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