This page is in memory of Flower who died of grass sickness in May 2010.

Where do i start to tell you about my beautiful girl Flower...

I brought her as a yearling in 2008. She had been in a barn all winter and was not in great condition. She was very skinny and had huge mud clumps stuck to her. All the horses in the barn were wild and had never been handled. When i arrived all the others were fearful but not Flower. She came up to me and put her head in my hand and looked at me with kind eyes. I fell in love with her from then on.  

With the time that past i couldn't believe i owned such a gorgeous, funny, gentle horse. I will never forget when i put a headcoller on her for the first time,giving her the first bath of her life, or the time she tested my patience trying to load her into the horse box which took half the day!

By the time she was 2 she was rising 16hh so i got her lightly broken in. She was so well behaved and never put a foot wrong. One of the easiest horses to work with! My plan was to turn her away and then bring her back into work when she was older. I also was planning to start showing her in hand as she was in perfect condition.

Sadly, 3 weeks after she returned from being backed on the 12th May 2010 she became ill. She had been in the stable for the day and when i returned to feed her that night i noticed she didnt seem right. She had not eaten any hay which was not like her and there were no droppings in the stable. I offered her some feed which she also refused. I was worried so we put her out in the field to see if she would graze but she kept wondering around and couldn't settle. I first thought it may be colic so we called the vet. The vet came out and gave her some antibiotics to see if anything changed overnight.

I was so worried about her me, my sis and mum camped down the yard over night checking on her every hour to see if there was any improvements.

The next morning she had still not eaten and there was no droppings in the stable. Her belly had blown up like a balloon and she was clearly in pain. It broke my heart. We transported her up to the vets surgery for them to observe her more closely. They took tests and decided to operate to see inside her stomach.

The next day it was confirmed from the test results that it was grass sickness. I was heartbroken as i had heard of it before and could see she had the worst case. They explained she wouldn't survive much longer so i made the tough decision to get her put to sleep. I had gone from a perfectly healthy horse one day to saying goodbye the next day. This was one of the hardest days of my life.    

I was completely distraught as she was the first horse i had brought myself. Nevertheless i feel honoured to have owned such a beautiful and caring horse. A one of a kind.  

Even though it's been nearly 3 years since i lost her there is still no clear cause nor any treatment for grass sickness. The vets had never seen a case like Flowers before as her stomach had blown up abnormally which was not a normal sign of grass sickness. This proves how little we still know of it and how it can affect horses differently. 

The Equine Grass Sickness Fund are raising money for more research and trials for a vaccination against it. Please give what you can to help avoid more tragic stories like Flowers. Every £1 counts.

Thank you for reading Flowers story and visiting my JustGiving page.

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