I’m back, 8 years later, to wrap up the story. I just retired this horse at 16. I’m looking at old photos, reminiscing about the good and the bad, and remembered this COTH thread.
Anyway, he actually went on to be pretty successful. He remained explosive, but had a good, if not consistent, career. He jumped around a lot of prelims and won some local recognition (Area 2 Packy award, CDCTA, etc.). When he was in the zone, he was a fantastic jumper, and had some perfect xc trips I’ll remember forever. I doubt I’ll ever be lucky enough to ride a horse as scopey and clever - he was just so quick to read a question and adjust his body as needed. More careful than bold. He was always ready to express his displeasure, though; venues, traffic, loud noises - some stuff he never quite got over. He qualified for a number of things I didn’t feel confident in investing the money to do (AEC, CCI**, etc.) The bucking never went away, but it’s been a long time since it was a show/warm-up issue. Initially he bucked every time he touched a rail, in every crowded warm-up, but thankfully that’s well in the past. XC schooling days, windy hacks, he probably got me a couple of times a year. Including this one 
His behavior on the ground improved some too. I started this thread after an incident that prompted a couple of professionals to recommend euthanasia, and nothing that serious ever happened again. His lunge/bite tendencies never went away and I was never able to safely longe him. He was scoped probably every other year on suspicion of ulcers (he’d do something grumpy with a vet and we’d check again . . . never found any) and treated for hindgut his whole life, just in case. He did spend his entire life scheming to escape (stalls, trailer ties, etc.) and evade being caught. It was his favorite game.
In the last few years he had several random injuries (a hoof infection, eye surgery). Each time he came back a little harder to get happy, and last fall/this spring it’s become clear he’s done with this. He’s not one to argue with - he already did so much more than I could have ever expected given our start. So he’s joining the growing lawn ornament herd.
Anyway, I’m not sure if there is a moral to the story, or what it is. N=1. The horse that people predicted would kill me, didn’t kill me. That might not be a great lesson. I laughed, I cried, I learned a LOT about preparing a horse who needed to be in a very specific “place” mentally and physically to compete successfully. I’ll try to make better life choices in the future. And he was never the best at time off, so fingers crossed he handles retirement well.
I appreciated everyone’s insights on this thread. It helped me move forward out of what felt like a hopeless situation.
