What are you thankful for this year? That’s the question we asked EN readers for the 2018 Thanksgiving Challenge from World Equestrian Brands, and your responses were numerous and heartfelt. Over the holiday weekend, we are honored to share your special stories. You can view an archive of them here.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Dennehy.
Just over a year ago, on November, 18th 2017, I made the difficult decision to send my heart horse south for retirement. Echo’s incredible life story is a long one but a very heartwarming tale.
About 20 years ago, a woman named Carla had gone down to Florida for a year and was looking to find a cheap project horse off the track. Something that would keep her horse fix alive while away from her farm in Tennessee. While at the race track, a redheaded 3-year-old that was a royal failure on the track caught Carla’s eye. He came leaping out of his stall on two hind legs but he had that kind eye and Carla knew he was special. After some serious negotiations with the track trainer, Echo was purchased for $1,700 and two bottles of Crown Royal whiskey.
Not long after, a trail riding accident from stepping in a palm tree hole left Carla with a severely broken arm and a fresh three old thoroughbred in need of a job. Limited by her arm Carla decided to see if Echo could learned to drive a cart. Well drive a cart he did. Young Echo drove his cart happily around Florida farm country as if he was born to it. Who would have thought a little racehorse would learn to drive with such joy? Quickly smitten with the steady mind Echo possessed Carla decided to take him home to her farm in Tennessee.
Back in Tennessee, Carla was a member of a large fox hunting group called the Tennessee Valley Hunt Club. Echo took to fox hunting like a fish takes to water and would often lead the following of the hounds. Echo took care of his rider as if it was his sole mission and would throw his heart over every fence. Carla loved Echo more than anything but she also loved a young girl named Brooke. So, when her childhood and best friend’s daughter began looking for a special horse, they asked for Echo.
Carla, though hesitant at first, could not refuse and gave Echo to Brooke, as a sign of love for her dearest friends. The partnership of Echo and Brooke quickly grew into a special bond. Brooke decided to to take Echo on the show jumping circuit and it quickly became very clear the sky was the limit because there was no jump too high or question too technical. Echo believed he could fly, and fly he did. The partnership of Echo and Brooke inspired Carla to name her farm after the pair. Thus, Echo Brooke Farm was born.
Brooke had dreams of competing in the Grand Prix; however, a terrible accident while at a show left Echo with a torn tendon and Brooke with a broken pelvis. They returned to the farm that was their namesake to recover. Although both recovered well, after many long weeks Brooke found herself needing a break from competition and so decided to give to a trainer friend Echo with the promise of first right of refusal should she ever sell.
Unfortunately, a year later when the price for first right of refusal was about three times higher than the price they paid, Brooke could not afford her dear friend. He was lost to the people that loved him most and sold to a man in South Carolina. Carla was able to contact to man once and share part of the tale. As fate would have it less than a year later Echo again had been sold, but this time Carla had no idea where he had gone.
Carla and Brooke did their best to try to track Echo down and find their heart horse. With Echo now in his mid-teens it seemed unlikely he had found a soft landing. Echo was gone from their lives without a trace. Meanwhile, little did they know Echo was eventing around New England again helping a young girl to build castles in the sky.
I had been down in Aiken, South Carolina as a working student and was in search of a horse to show me the ropes of eventing. My trainer convinced me to try Echo even though he was twice my budget and a bit on the older side at 13. I didn’t like him at first. I had started riding originally in classical dressage and that was the one thing Echo did not do. It was like riding a llama with an incredibly stubborn attitude. We jumped him over a few cross rails and he was good but I was still less than impressed.
However, my trainer wouldn’t give up — this was the horse. She ultimately convinced me to go back and try Echo again. Thank God she did! We managed to get permission from the owner to take Echo out with a group of horses on Hitchcock Woods, a 2,000-acre land reserve with fox hunting fences. The moment I picked up a canter and we flew through the woods down a line of jumps, I knew I was riding something special. My God did this horse have heart!
Unfortunately, reality set in and I had to say no. I just could not afford this horse and I was New England bound in just two weeks. So it seemed my horse hunt was to meet an unsuccessful end. However, a few days later Echo’s owner contacted me saying, this was a special horse with a beautiful story that deserved a young girl to love him. He believed Echo would excel in eventing. The man said he would offer Echo to me for almost half his listed price and if I said no, Echo would return to his farm to live out his days. I said yes, and I am so thankful everyday that I did.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Dennehy.
Fast forward seven years later. It all started when a friend of mine contacted me out of the blue and said she wanted to write a book about Echo’s life. I knew he had a farm named after him in Tennessee and that he had a beautiful story but I didn’t know the details. I Googled the farm and sent a message via Facebook that went something like, “Hi, I think I own the horse that your farm is named after.” A late night phone call with Carla and I learned an incredible story about my courageous horse. There was laughter and there were tears. The terrible things she had imagined that had befallen her beloved friend were not to be. There he was eventing around New England making a young girl’s dreams come true all along. She told me that if Echo ever needed a home he had one with her.
Then fate came knocking again. Two weeks later I found myself in financial crisis looking for a new barn to send my horses to. There were few options I could afford and I was worried about losing both my friends and terrified about what kind of home you would find last minute for a semi-retired event horse and a half-crazy 5-year-old, off the track Thoroughbred, that would be hard to find a home for. So with options runout, I called Carla and asked if Echo would really have a lifetime home with her. Without hesitation the answer was, yes.
To give Echo up and put him on a trailer where I would not be on the other end to greet him was the hardest decision I’ve made in my life, but it was also without a doubt the right one. The night before Echo left for Tennessee I remember sitting on Echo bareback and bridleless while he happily munched his hay, out in the cow pasture gazing at the stars. I remember thinking how lucky am I ? What a journey? What a life? My heart was breaking but also so very full.
At last, Echo’s’ life has come full circle. Just a few weekends back after 10 years apart Echo and Brooke were reunited on a weekend trip, as Brooke undergoes chemotherapy and begins her battle against cancer.
This is the horse that just keeps on giving. Echo was there through the toughest times of my life. My journey and dream of learning to event to my first Preliminary horse trials. He was there for me through college, the beginning of adulthood, and the loss of our family farm. When a training accident resulted in me being kicked in the face by a young horse, Echo gave me courage to get back on, and in the death of my father, the soldier that never came home, Echo gave me strength. He was the horse that built the horseman and I am so grateful.
This year wasn’t the toughest year of my life but it was a close second and it was a year without my best friend. To love unconditionally is sometimes to let go and I wasn’t the best thing for Echo anymore. He owed me nothing and was the horse of a lifetime. He deserved the retirement of a champion. We all want our horses to live long happy lives but what happens when they grow old and can no long carry us? We owe them a soft landing, a forever home. I had never met Carla and she didn’t know me and yet a redheaded thoroughbred brought our stories together and together we are giving back to Echo the life he gave to us. I have trained many horses and ridden many more but I didn’t think I would experience another partnership like the one I shared with Echo. Echo set the bar far too high.
Again as fate would have it , that psychotic young Thoroughbred — the one I didn’t think anyone would want? Well, that fiery redhead that was borderline dangerous has wormed his way into my heart. This past year I’ve built a bond with Finn on literal blood, broken bones, sweat and tears, and it’s turning into another beautiful journey. It is all thanks to Echo. Echo taught me to have courage, grit and the patient compassion to handle a horse like Finn.
So this year I am thankful to have experienced the incredible legendary heart of a Thoroughbred. I am grateful and so very blessed that such incredible animals have been apart of my life. I think we all have that one horse that built us, changed us, made us better, or carried us when life had us on the ground. This Thanksgiving, raise a glass to that special horse and be thankful because to experience such a horse is an incredible gift. We are the lucky ones.
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
