Saying good-bye to Beroni (Road to the Tevis Cup, Post # 45)

It’s always hard to lose a horse, but saying good-bye to Beroni last month was especially hard. (My Road to Tevis blog post where I introduce him as Fantazia’s pasture mate has lots of pictures and videos.)

Jump to a list of the blog posts Beroni is featured or mentioned in

We first met WSG Beroni on October 30, 2016, in Guthrie, Oklahoma. His owner, Bill Givens of WSG Morgans, was an old friend, and we were out at his place for lunch. He’d recently brought Beroni home after nearly ten years training and showing. Most recently, Beroni had been at a stable that focused on teaching kids equitation… He wasn’t really a kid’s horse, at least not without close supervision and a trainer who had time to ride him herself.

The day we met Beroni… in the center, Bill Givens, who bred and owned him, is brushing his mane.

We all loved Beroni from the start…

Of course, the first thing I did was put my kids on him. Just a few weeks after we met Beroni, Bill brought him and another gelding, WSG Amigo to me. My mare was having a break at Bill’s house, so I needed horses to ride. I had already worked with Amigo, but he was less trained and much bigger than Beroni, so my oldest (and tallest) son Ian rode Amigo whenever he could. My youngest, Rodrigo, rode Beroni.

Above: Rodrigo and Beroni on the left, Ian and Amigo on the right, January 2017, Norman, OK.

One of my main purposes in taking Beroni to work with was to reprogram him a bit and sell him for Bill. I did try. I nearly had him sold at one point, to a good home, which would have made us all happy. But no one was really sad to have him around.

We all loved Beroni, but Rodrigo formed a special bond.

Over the next three and a half years, we had Beroni with us in Norman off and on. When he was in Guthrie at WSG Morgans, I’d ride him whenever we were there… unless Rodrigo did.

Above: Rodrigo and Beroni on the left, Ian riding WSG Point of Order on the right (Guthrie, OK).

I discovered why Beroni wouldn’t sell in OK–he had a reputation as unmanageable.

Beroni in California

So when we left for California last summer, I told Bill I’d take him whenever he could get him to me. Normally, that would have been easy: he could have hitched a ride with one of the many stables that takes horses to the Morgan Horse Grand National and World Championship show, held every year in Oklahoma City. (See my posts about the show here.)

But in times of COVID, well… Bill ended up in the parking lot at the Quarter Horse World Championship Show in the first week of November, looking for California license plates. In the end, Beroni caught a ride with Hoyt Performance Horses to Moorpark, about 3 hours from home.

Above: Beroni and PGN Zimpressive Lady, Fantazia’s full sister, In Oklahoma.

Since arriving in California, Beroni became part of my road to Tevis story. He was Fantazia’s companion, and my ride when she was resting. I ponied Fantazia from Beroni (great when she was recovering from saddle fit and other issues) and Beroni from Fantazia. (Beroni stars in my Ponying your Horse blog post.) He could do a 10mph trot without effort, when he wasn’t nearly as in shape as she was. I started training him to do an LD. I was going to take him to Wild West to do 25 miles… until he decided to try to rip his left front hoof off.

Above: In the few short months Beroni was here, we rode for miles. He learned not to fear cattle, and to go through water even if he DID fear it. He was a natural at going up and down steep slopes. Our final big ride was 10 miles and almost 3,000 feet total elevation gain.

Why saying good-bye to Beroni has been so very difficult

The day I left for Wild West, I took off the final bandage and placed it with a simple sock and bell boot. Rodrigo was going to check on it and clean Beroni’s pen (Actually I moved him into Fantazia’s smaller area, which I closed off from her pasture; it’s bigger and clean.) The wound was almost entirely healed (though it would have taken 9+ months to grow out of the hoof).

Beroni’s wound… at some point I will probably write a blog post about it.

Fantazia and I spent several days at Stillman Horse Campground. Although there were good things that happened, overall it was an terribly disappointing experience. Fantazia had a cramp and I realized there was no way we could do Tevis this year. (See my blog post about what happened at Wild West.) On the way home, we had a flat, so I was much later than expected.

By the time I had unloaded Fantazia and parked the trailer, it was nearly 9pm. I asked my boyfriend to put Beroni back in his smaller pen when he fed, so I checked on him there. He was fine, eating hay (he got 90% Bermuda grass, 10% alfalfa and wheat). His pen had an automatic waterer, which Beroni prefers to buckets or troughs.

The colic

The next morning, Beroni seemed fine when we went down to feed. As per routine, I gave him his hay first, then fed Fantazia and cleaned her pen. Then I cleaned his pen. By that time, I could tell something wasn’t right, because he wasn’t eating. Although he had a normal amount of normal poops, there was also one mushy mucousy pile.

I took his pulse (a bit high, about 44 instead of his usual 36-40 bpm) and listened to his gut. Normal everywhere but the upper left quadrant, where it was a bit too quiet. I called the vet. It was Sunday, but Pacific Crest Equine almost always had a vet on call. I spoke with Dr. Taryn Holliday, and she gave me sensible advice (what I would have done anyway): give him 8cc of Banamine and wait and see.

Above: Beroni felt better after the Banamine. I gave him a bucket of water to better assess his drinking.

When I checked in two hours, Beroni’s pulse was down to 40. He had pooped another rather mucousy dollop, and a normal poop. He had eaten some, but not all of his hay. He frequently spent all day picking at his Bermuda, so I wasn’t worried. He wasn’t obviously dehydrated, but I wasn’t entirely happy with his gums; his capillary refill was less than two seconds, but they were pale pink. And it was hot, so I hosed him off to prevent excess fluid loss via sweating.

(what I should have done was taken him to the clinic… oh the hindsight guilt)

By dinner time his gums looked good, his gut sounds were normal, and he seemed happy. He had eaten about half his hay.

Monday morning

The next day he was not 100%. I really should have taken him in… in hindsight! At the time, I talked with Dr. Holliday again. I described his vital signs: heart rate = 44, guts sounds normal in all four quadrants. 4-5 normal poops, but he had only picked at his hay. I could tell he wasn’t feeling good yet. Dr. Holliday told me to give him another 8cc of Banamine, electrolytes, and check in two hours.

In two hours, and all Monday, Beroni was better in all respects: He was drinking, eating grass (and sticking his head through the fence to try to get more grass), poops normal given low eating. Vital signs normal. Still not finishing Bermuda.

Tuesday

But when we fed Tuesday morning I knew he was not okay. He was worse. Only two poops, dehydrated, low guts sounds on the left side. I called and took him to the clinic.

One of the first questions was whether he was a candidate for surgery. By this time I was beating myself up about not having insured him when he arrived in California (I did think about it). But I might not have opted for surgery anyway. The only vet who does surgeries at Pacific Crest is Doug Anez, and he was out of town. They gave me four referral options: UC Davis (I would have taken him there had I opted for surgery), clinics in Sacramento, Salinas, or Santa Barbara. It was already 10am, and going to be over 100 degrees. Had Dr. Anez been able to perform surgery, I would have opted for it, because Beroni was a good candidate. As it was, I choose conservative options.

Thank goodness I did. It was 102 in the valley by noon, and Beroni was in much more pain.

When Rodrigo and I visited Tuesday afternoon, Beroni wasn’t too bad. Not happy with the muzzle, but not in too much pain. I knew it was a one in a million chance, but I still allowed myself to hope.

Saying good-bye to Beroni

The next day I called and spoke with the vet just after eight. She said he was doing ok, and that she’d call me if he got worse. Twenty minutes later she called. We hurried to the clinic to say good-bye.

Beroni was one of the best horses I’ve ever worked with

Yes, he was hot and full of himself. But all he really wanted to do was to please, and to go on adventures with his person. I wish we could have gone on so many more adventures, but the rides we took in Oklahoma and here were really fun. It kills me that he was finally getting super-trained. he neck-reined, did gates, water, cattle, technical terrain, the steep hills and rocks of the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. I thought we had at least another decade of rides. And Fantazia misses him. We all do.

Bill has pointed out we could make another. Beroni spent his first eight years or so as a stallion. I’ve never really wanted to breed horses. It takes years and a lot of money before you have something you can ride, and horses really can find ways to kill themselves in a padded box. But maybe someday…

I did train Beroni’s daughter, WSG My Girl. See her at a Working Equitation show in the video below.

Beroni’s daughter, WSG My Girl, with me riding, doing Ease of Handling at w Working Equitation Show

And I rode his son, WSG Evader (“Slick”), several times. If I had the time and money, I’d thinking about asking Bill if I could take off his hands. Maya would be easier to ride (she’s a great trail horse), but I’d prefer a gelding because Fantazia…