Rest in peace my darling.

As lots of you will know, I had to say a very painful goodbye to my beautiful Dazzle a month ago.
There is no way any video could do justice to how much I loved this horse, despite all of the pain I went through over the years with her. In August it would have been 4 years.
I got Dazzle in August 2013 as a 3 year old after my old horse, Willow, suffered a tendon injury. I wanted a horse to compete but couldn't afford to buy an older, more experienced horse. I was very lucky to be offered Dazzle at a price I could actually afford, and had huge plans for her.
She was a dream work with at the beginning - first canter with a rider in an open field etc, not a single issue. She learned to work correctly without much trouble and was a joy to ride.
Unfortunately, we never got to compete. I tried to take her to her first show when she was 4, she wouldn't load. It took 3 hours to get her in the lorry once my friend who had been giving us a lift got back. The same happened a couple of other times, and we had awful issues with her in the trailer as well. All of these we eventually overcame, but by this point she damaged the meniscus in her stifle in September 2015 which meant 3 months of box rest then a slow, careful rehab.
She was almost back in full work when in March 2016 she began rearing. She rapidly got to the point where I couldn't even get on and ask her to walk without her going up, and she went to the vets for investigation after she flipped on me. They found she had kissing spine and she had the surgery for it last summer.
To cut a long story shot, she started coming back into work well and I took everything super slowly, but as soon as we started canter work again she went downhill. She was retired in January after almost flipping on me again.
Dazzle was the sort of horse who needed to have a job. She was unhappy as a field ornament and still suffering from multiple lameness issues. At 7 years old, she would have been miserable and doped up on pain medication for another 25+ years. In the end I did what was my responsibility as a horse owner and made the decision to end her pain. It was the most difficult decision anyone could have to make, but I know she is no longer in pain and I can take comfort in knowing that the right decision is often the hardest one.
She was so special to me and I miss her every day.