My daughter’s very good young horse Prairie Hill Socrates after attending the Morgan Nationals in October 2021 broke his leg in a pasture accident, x rays was devastating… broken cannon bone mid way with everything above the break was in pieces. He was humanely euthanize.
This has been Very hard on all parties. Us, the breeder, daughter’s trainer. her vet and family friends all have been devastated.
Within minutes the response for help was immediate. Neighbor friend who is a TB trainer and great freind was here in seconds to help, she did have drugs to comfort Socrates while we waited for the vet. (She under the direction of her race track vet administered a proper dose of pain killer) (Also prearranged the surgical suite at the nearby TB racetrack with vets waiting)
Daughter’s vet Does not do farm calls, exception was made and they responded in about an hour. Daughter trainer, Garn Walker was called by the vet’s office’s office as they knew he was daughter’s trainer… He beat the vets here
X rays were just horrible, it was quickly decided by all parties that he should be euthanized
Socrates was a wonderful horse, by age three he was a handsome horse at just about 16H. He was progressing in the lower levels of Dressage scoring well.
This has been a very hard time for all. Admittedly loosing Socrates was as hard on me as the death of my son Mark…not to equate the lose of person to a horse but both deaths leave a person wondering about what come have come if they were still around. There is piece of my heart that has gone away with each.
Socrates’s breeder Susan Motter of Prairie Hill Morgans was devastated primarily her concern was my daughter’s welfare. My daughter and Susan came to an agreement that daughter would have first pick of the 2022 foals, the agreement was hoping that Socrates’s mother would be “the one” but she was the last that was to foal this spring. The first four foals were ones that were of “high color” which were to be kept by Prairie Hill for breeding stock or were ones that just did not speak to my daughter. So the wait for FORTUNES ANTOINETTE to foal continued.
Prairie Hill Imagination was foaled in late May, he is a half brother to Socrates …and Bay just as he was which is remarkable since the ranch’s breeding program is for colored Morgans
he already is tagged with a barn name of Figment to honor Socrates, Fig for short
here is the day of birth, not pretty as they really are but it was in the 30s even in late May in North Dakota
Susan allowed my daughter to name the foal which is sort of important in Morgan world as the farm name does reflect the farm’s program going forward and horse must be shown under its registered name for breed practices.
Back to daughter’s trainer Garn Walker, unbelievable kind man who was heart broken also. Knowing my daughter’s love of her horse he generously gave her one of his horses not as replacement but knowing she needed to have something to touch.
GW Impression is her registered name (edited to correct) her every day name is Lexie
Lexie is a five year old of very good breeding who just did not grow, she is about 14h so she really did not fit into Garn’s training program but he kept her around…actually she was not even named or registered …daughter got to name her for him. She is now properly registered with Morgan Horse Association.
I can not say enough about the thoughtfulness and kindness from many about Sock’s passing
here is Susan’s web site, they have been very supportive of my daughter
https://prairiehillmorgans.com/
(all photos that are not personal we do have full rights of use, something we kind of take to heart as two of our children are professional photographers so we wish to do the correct thing by purchasing rights to reproduce)
