On the Homefront: Remembering Nick (2000-2022)

Nick in his pasture in Georgia.

This post has been a long time in coming, but it has taken me a while to process the fact that my horse Nick passed away so suddenly.  I first met Nick when he was seven years old.  He was being boarded at a barn near where a friend I used to ride with lived.  His owner had not been able to ride him in over a year because she had been in a car accident, and he was the only horse at the barn.  He was a big, beautiful Tennessee Walking Horse, over 16 hands tall but very laid back and easy to handle.  Nick was a color known as rusty or sooty black, not a true black, because his color faded to almost bay in the summer sun (as you can tell from the two photos at the top and bottom of the post).  He had apparently been bred as a show horse, and was left as a stallion until he was five, but because of his easy-going personality he probably was not showy enough for competition.  This was a good thing, as the TWH show circuit is notorious for the cruel practices used to encourage a flashy gait, so he was able to avoid such treatment.  I liked him because he had a long, easy stride and just enough spirit to make him a fun ride, although his long stride did make him a bit clumsy on some of the more rugged trails we occasionally took.  We lived very close to a state park with some of the best riding trails in the state, and we were able to go for some good fun rides on a regular basis.

Of all the horses I have owned, I was able to ride Nick the most, and even bought and learned to pull a horse trailer short distances to get to the local parks with horse trails.  Nick was very easy to trailer, and was good with the vet and the farrier.  He was always easy to handle and got along well with most other horses, although because he had been left as a stallion for so long he could be unpredictable with other geldings (he always loved mares, though!).  Gaited horse are popular in Georgia, but I had never owned a gaited horse before and was not the best rider on them.  However, Nick and I managed well enough.  The one thing I always regretted was not taking a few lessons with someone who specialized in gaited horses - I think Nick and I could have done even better together if I had done so.

I was still caring for my old horse Bugs when I first got Nick, so I had to board him rather than have him on our property because I did not want him to bully Bugs, who was a rather submissive horse.  When Bugs passed away I was able to bring him to our place in Georgia, where he kept my little donkey Daisy company until she passed away.  I moved Nick out to New Mexico with me when we bought our house here, and I did intend to ride him here but the pandemic intervened and then I started to have joint issues so we never got to trail ride here.  I also wanted to get him a companion, either a donkey or another horse, but again the pandemic interfered with those plans, so once again he ended up being an only horse.  There were other horses in the neighborhood that he could hear and sometimes see and he did not seem to mind being alone, but I do wish I could have gotten him a companion.  He seemed to be doing fine here, but I sometimes wonder if he had some digestive issues all along, because he did have some problems adjusting to the hay available here in New Mexico, which was very different from the hay grown in the southeast.  Otherwise he was perfectly healthy, - he had only ever colicked once before the whole time I owned him, and that was only because he was slightly dehydrated.  Even the vet was surprised when Nick developed such a serious colic, and despite everything we tried, including surgery, we could not save my poor boy.

I was lucky to have Nick for fifteen years, and I hope he had a good life with me.  I doubt that I will ever have another riding horse, as my joints have reached the point where I can no longer ride comfortably, but I will always have fond memories of the times I got to trail ride with my wonderful Nick.  Even now I still can't quite believe he is gone, and I miss my sweet boy every day.

Nick in his barn in New Mexico.