Hyde

After a couple trips to the vet and to the University of Saskatoon, it was determined that Hyde has a heart condition - a murmur. This is not uncommon in horses or in people.

In Hyde's case, it is the cause of the exercise intolerance in that the valve in the right side of the heart - which is the working side - does not open and close properly...so his body does not receive all the oxygenated blood it needs to work hard.

In consultation with the vets, Jason and ourselves, we have decided that for Hyde's wellbeing, we would pull him from training and showing and have him at home for me to play with.

The vets at the University said that he can be used as a breeding stallion as this is a congenital defect - meaning caused during development in utero.

While this is a sad time for us as we were really looking forward to seeing Hyde in the showring, we have to do what is best for him. And we also have to remember that Hyde was never supposed to go for training/showing either...and that quite possibly it was the hard work that made this problem show up.

We will be taking it easy with Hyde from now on. I am going to ride him a few days a week to keep him in shape and will just enjoy having him home.