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WHY 'Four Beats to Freedom'
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| My mother had a very wonderful cob, MacDermot,
with whom I too enjoyed a relationship I have scarcely known with any
other horse. She often spoke of MacD's four strong legs as giving her a
certain freedom that she could not enjoy with her own wooden one. She
wrote this when he was put down in 1983: |
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Remember his courage
And joy in his job -
My great-hearted, gentle
Companion and cob.
MacDevil - the joker,
MacDashing - the bold,
MacDarling - the soft one ,
Were not to grow old.
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Remember his
twinkle,
That shake of the head!
His chortle of greeting...
MacDermot is dead.
Mourn him for a moment;
Though life must go on
And others succeed him,
MacDermot is gone. |
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His legs were my freedom
Of hills, wide and high,
Thank God for his life, now:
MacDermot, Goodbye.
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| Four beats to freedom: it is
primarily in the measured, four-beat pace of walk that the horse helps
move people forward, whether in the busy streets of Cairo or in riding
therapy sessions all round the world....
MacD was very special to me as well - in fact I still find it hard to
think of him with a dry eye. We did pony club events together, (he had a
very dim view of a dressage arena, and his own ideas about the pace
appropriate to go cross country - once at a hunter trial, whisked me
over an enormous rail that I only pointed at because I could not stop!)
hunted with the Croome and spent long hours on Bredon Hill. He was by
Lord Fox, and was one of those rare and special horses who acquired fans
at every turn, despite (or because of?) his ability to curl himself up
like a banana and his wicked sense of humour. Here he is...
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