A poem I wrote a few years back:
There's a hush in my ears
my unsteady breathing show my fears
I'm all buckled & tightly pressed
I flick my ears back & forth in distress.
It's almost the start so I have to get ready
Keep my hooves firm, keep my posture steady
I look around & see others like me
all stressed, nervous & very unhappy.
I trot up to the line & close my eyes
think of warm sun & cloudless blue skies
Then something loud shouts in my ear
a nudge in my ribs & my eyes smart with tears
And then I'm hurtling, tripping, running
to negotiate this mass takes all my cunning
the noise, the bangs, the grunts
before I know it I'm out in front!
Minutes pass & the first jump I clear
but others fall down, I can't see, only hear
Hedge after hedge I smash over & through
heaving sweating bodies are my only view
The pace suddenly quickens
I can't keep up I feel beaten
the crashes, the cries, the pounding of the ground
I'm terrified & my heart beats fast to the sound
I'm tiring, yet I'm still being whipped
pull me over, please pull me up quick
the end is nearing, my end is coming
yet you're forcing me to keep on running
I make the finish but I'm done
none of this was great, none of this was fun
Then there's silence & a great white light
I fall on my back, finished & there ends my plight.
In memory to the horse 'Hear the Echo' who collapsed & died this afternoon after racing in the Grand National. RIP x March 2009
***** Two horses lost their lives today at this years Grand National - my poem still says it all I think.
