I am pretty sure that all of you know what the average lifespan of a horse is usually from 25-30 years old and for every horse older than that, you can tell that it has made it to the real world for longer than the majority of the horses. The oldest horse to have ever lived was verified to be 62 years old which is a lot compared to the average mentioned above.
Well, the one we are going to talk about didn’t live that long but still, he managed to live more than the average lifespan and I am talking about Bobby who managed to be in our world for more than 40 years, which is still impressive regarding the statistics. The Helme family, from Lancaster, Lancashire, paid tribute to 15hh part-bred trotter Bobby, who was put down on 9 December.
Mother Helen said the family fell in love with the gelding immediately despite the fact he was “completely different” to what they had been looking for when he was bought from a riding school in Durham in 1986 for daughter Becci. The reason why Bobby was put down was due to colic, which is frequent for horses. Again, for those who do not understand, he was put down because his death was certain and nothing could have been done to save him.
If we lived any longer, he would have simply had unnecessary pain. “Becci got into endurance by chance and they were hooked. In 1991 they did their first 100-mile ride at Ludlow. Bobby was very strong, and he would do things like mess about when you took his heart rate but then something clicked,” Helen said.
“He was passed to my daughter Donna, who was 16, who took him to the World Equestrian Games in The Hague in 1994 where she was the youngest rider to compete – it was amazing. They were 34th and the only Brits to get around along with Gill Smedley.”- she added. He probably wasn’t the fastest horse, but he made the training very easy and managed to establish amazing relationships with both of Helen’s daughters. That is why they like to call him ‘one in a million’ horse. He will be missed in the family. I just want to wish his family the best and keep the amazing memories with him in their hearts.
