- hoffywhf
In Memory of Trillion
Monday was a very hard day, not at all the day I had planned out in my mind. It started out in the same manner that it has for the last two years, walking to the barn with Trillion standing at the gate watching me. Trillion was the alpha horse in his group, and since I always feed his pasture first he was the first horse I interacted with every day since he arrived almost two years ago.
Trillion grazing with the rooster
I went about my usual preparations, filling my soaking buckets with hot water, scooping feed into feedbags, etc. As I prepare the first round of feed I’m always looking at Trillion and friends since they are often in my line of sight. I saw another typical scene, Trillion reminding Asterik that he is not going to jump the line and be fed first. It seemed to be a pleasantly routine start to the day.
L-R Faune, Winston and Trillion
One of his favorite activities, a good roll
I never could capture his big, floppy ears in a picture
Napping with Sebastian while Asterik stood watch
I remember taking this picture last summer. Trillion was napping with his head resting on the fence. His head kept slowly sliding down and pulling on his bottom lip.
Trillion enjoyed every minute of retirement
Enjoying a lovely spring day in retirement
Trillion had a great life. He was a very accomplished horse in the show ring. A Dutch Warmblood by breeding, he was a decorated champion in the hunter ring. He showed in the Regular Working Hunters which is the ‘big leagues’ of the hunter divisions. Trillion won at the biggest of the big shows. He was circuit champion at the Winter Equestrian Festival and at or near the top of the national rankings for a few years. On the rare occasion that I got to see Trillion do a relaxed canter through the field (as opposed to the galloping/bucking/farting that I usually see when the horses decide to move faster than a walk) he had an amazing canter stride. Rhythmical, fluid, lots of suspension and ground covering, you could just see him hunting around a course of 4′ jumps with ease.
He suffered a suspensory injury on one of his front legs after all of that winning, and his owner chose to re-home Trillion at that point. That was probably the best thing that ever happened to Trillion. He ended up with the wonderful family who gave him a forever home and rehabbed him. They said both of their daughters could get him on him bareback together and canter him around over jumps. He continued to win for them as well. When the time came to retire him they chose to send him to us from Florida. Trillion had never loved the long Florida summers and they wanted him to let him retire in a more horse friendly climate.
Trillion watching two geese probably wondering what the heck they were doing in his pasture
I will never forget the day Trillion arrived. The big, shiny semi pulled up right as a big thunderstorm was getting ready to unleash. We unloaded Trillion and walked to the barn as the sky lit up from lightening. Trillion was very interested in all of the grass on the way to the barn. Jason and I had just put Trillion in a stall and were leaning against the door admiring him when a big clap of thunder boomed and then the light bulb burned out in his stall and he was in the dark. Jason and I were laughing saying that Trillion must be wondering what he had done to deserve being sent to this dump what with arriving to the fanfare of a thunderstorm and a dark stall. After that we always joked that Trillion said even though the place seemed dumpy when he first arrived it wasn’t so bad after all.
Trillion grazing with Faune
Trillion was an outrageous flirt. One time Gwen the amazing farrier and I were talking about Trillion (she loved him as did everyone). We decided Trillion was the type that could go into a bar and leave with three women, yet have them all convinced that they were each ‘the one.’ That was just his personality. He also had the cutest ears, huge and floppy, that I tried to capture in pictures many times. No picture that I took ever managed to capture the awesomeness of Trillion’s ears. Amy always said he reminded her of Winnie the Pooh because he looked like he should be carrying around a honey pot.
Today I had a very different start to my day than yesterday. Trillion was not there watching me walk from my house to the barn, and he was not the first horse I fed this morning. The whole day simply felt wrong from the beginning. Rest in peace Trillion, you were an amazing horse and you are missed by many.