As most readers know, we at Saugeen Times believe that special four-legged creatures deserve the same dignity in dying as their human counterparts, especially when they have served those who have been a part of their lives.
Registered Name: Starbilts Sexy Sorel aka Woody
Date of birth: June 7th, 1995
Height: 15 hh
Start year at PRANCE: 2002
“Woody was a chestnut gelding AQHA who started at PRANCE in 2002. He was purchased in Ontario from a hunter/jumper barn. In 2014, I started at PRANCE as the Head Instructor. I quickly realized what an asset Woody was to our program. When I first watched Woody in a class, he was exceptionally quiet, reserved and careful. He never took a break from taking care of his riders.
I started riding Woody occasionally to “breathe some life back into him.” In my classes we are fortunate to have beautiful trails to use but it is different when you have a rider you don’t need to “take care of”. We hacked everywhere. We cantered when he felt like it, and took long walks to the beach; we even galloped a few times! It took Woody some time to realize he didn’t have to watch every step with me and when it dawned on him, he became a new horse. His confidence was exhilarating and he was more enthusiastic in classes.
Woody was the primary wheelchair lift horse for over a decade. He’s been used in countless therapeutic riding classes and EFW sessions. Woody was always taking on the most challenging riders; whether it was physical, mental or emotionally challenging. He was the perfect horse to teach anyone to canter on or to build confidence with. He was calm, reasonable and as close to bombproof as you could get. He was every horse lover’s dream.
I have seen a little girl sob into his neck and Woody wrap himself around her until she was consoled. I have seen the most anxious riders learn how to breathe again (even if just for the hour) when they were with Woody.
One memory that stands out to me is a non-verbal rider who had an acute seizure on Woody. I should mention that this rider hadn’t had any seizures for over 10 years. PRANCE has trained the horses that when something is wrong they are to come to center line. On this day Woody’s rider mounted up and went back to the centre line to wait for instruction. Woody was showing signs of agitation when asked to walk large, and moments before the seizure Woody stopped, looked right at me, walked to centre line and wouldn’t budge. We were able to safely manage the seizure, which would have likely gone unknown if Woody didn’t “speak up”.
Woody was my teammate. He was a horse I could count on in any situation, whether it was leading out calmly with a bunch of spring-happy horses or remaining open to any alternative therapies. He had been to Guelph University for some health issues to which the Doctor commented on his exceptional manners. He has taught everyone in the barn more life lessons than I ever could.
Woody has been active in PRANCE for 21 years and, as he has gotten older, we have changed up his workload to less stressful rides. It has taken multiple horses to make this happen because he truly was irreplaceable.
Woody is well known throughout the community for his heart of gold and very much deserves to be the CANTRA therapy horse of the year!”
… and he was
