Meet The Family: Blazer

1989 – 18^th October, 2010

My beautiful boy came into my life when I was an 11yr old pony mad girl who had read ALL the books and simply couldn’t live without a horse of her own.  Blaze was a 3 month old Australian Stud Book Pony fresh off his mother. A recipe for disaster… but in actual fact a love story till death do us part 31 years later.

What fun we had, he was never destined to be a ribbon winner, though he did have the looks. But in my heart he is a champion. The early years were learning years for us both. Blaze taught me patience and the language of the horse. However, I think he learnt a lot about being a human so the two blended.

With the assistance of our neighbour, Blaze flourished, by the time he was 2yrs old, we were riding him around the neighbourhood in a halter bareback and still entire. No one ever told Blaze he was a stallion and he wasn’t gelded until he was past 3yrs old, purely because we were told we should geld him. He was never broken in, we simply started leaning on his back and it progressed from there. Blaze never stepped foot in a dressage arena, never jumped more than a pole on a few bricks, but boy did we have a good time.

Blaze was my little steam train, he would trot all day. Same rhythm, same pace. We travelled all over the countryside. He never baulked and would go where ever I pointed him. We rode on the roads, through the bush, racing others up streets. We could be gone all day, only to appear on dusk with Blaze gently trotting his way home.

Life was good for Blaze, he had his own special diet – coke from the can, chips, baked dinners, dog biscuits anything edible really. It didn’t always have to be his own or our food. He was very clever at hunting out food belonging to others, it didn’t worry him if that food belonged to our neighbours, paddocks away.   Garden’s did not mean a thing to Blaze, any attempts mum has made for a garden over the years has had to be Blazer proof. He’s successfully eaten roses, bushes, azalea’s (a special favourite). He would walk up onto the back verandah to have a feed on mum’s garden, actually it also meant access to the house and he wasn’t afraid to enter the house when we weren’t looking.

Blaze was Houdini, he could get out of any fence as long as it wasn’t electrified. At times you never knew if he would be on the property of a morning. Also if the gate was left open he would be off. Many a time I’ve chased him next door as he’s galloped away from me. One time a courier driver was chasing him down the road in his van blasting his horn as Blaze happily trotted away from him on a mission of his own. A funny story was Dad when we were at school, seeing a chestnut pony further away from home than usual, tried catching it and leading it home, only to arrive home and realise Blaze for a change was actually where he was meant to be. Haha my father the horse thief. In later years, I’ve had Crispy the dobber, he would let me know when Blaze escaped, so Blaze’s escapades were reduced. Only a few weeks before his passing, he got out and galloped away from me, you could see the wicked glint in his eye enjoying the game.

Cushings came first over 10 years ago. Then 5 years ago cancer arrived!! Blaze had received a couple of treatments of radiation therapy, which worked on the initial tumours on his nose, but subsequent tumours developed. Despite this his life was happy and carefree with management.

Blaze was the guard pony, you couldn’t get in the drive, unless he allowed it. He was my babysitter. Crispy only had to call and Blaze would be there with him.

Blaze would greet me every time he saw me, with a nicker. He was my shoulder to cry on, he was my best friend, he was my everything. He was always there, maybe in the background, but there none the less.

To go from happy hairy pony to not being able to walk a line so quickly is heart renching. I’m so very grateful he waited until I was home from overseas and able to be with him. The final decision has been the most difficult in my life, but I know the most important. I’m so very grateful that his final moments were happy and surrounded by love.  I will never be able to thank my friends Ilona and Liz enough for their support in Blaze’s last moments. My last memory of Blaze is laying peacefully with a smile on his face.

God bless you my beloved boy. You may be gone, but will never be forgotten.