Gloryess was born on 3 January 2013. She was the second foal I had bred myself out of HT Odessa (Shaikh Al Kuran x HT Ormuz) and she was sired by Makisa Adaggio (Vervaldee x Maradisha).
I bought her dam, HT Odessa, as a yearling from Joan and Ernest Woodward and she has been a great mare for me. She bred Justa Princessa, sired by WH Justice, who I still have at home and will never part with. I feel that Odessa does a great job of letting the sire stamp her foals, which has been the case with both foals I have bred from her.
When I saw Makisa Adaggio go Gold Champion as a yearling at the Midland Arabian Festival, I was in love and knew I had to breed to him. HT Odessa would be a perfect match, and I knew I would get a foal that would resemble him.
Glory was a very petite compact foal with the prettiest poppy eyes and amazing head. From the day she was born, she was cocky and confident and loved human attention. The first day we got her out in the ménage, she bounced around with her tail over her back and I knew that she was going to be a show girl.
As a foal Glory went Gold Foal Champion at the Classic Arabian Horse Show and Gold Foal Champion at North West Arabian International show at Aintree. She then went on to receive the Silver British National Foal Champion title at Malvern. That day was a very proud day for me – I had owned, bred, produced and shown my first National Champion. As a yearling, Glory was only shown at the British Nationals where she placed a respectable sixth in her class. From there, the teething bumps came and she stayed at home as a two-year old, enjoying life relaxing and going out in the paddock with her sister and best friend, Princess. This year, as a three-year old, was going to be the year that I brought Glory back into the ring as she had matured into a beautiful older filly.
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I never got that chance. On Friday 22 April, Glory stopped eating and drinking. We had the vet out a number of times checking for colic and her teeth, but still she didn’t pick up. On Sunday 24 April, Glory was referred to Leahurst Veterinary Hospital, where we knew she would be in the best hands. I got regular calls from Rosie, one of the vets assigned to Glory, who told me on the Monday that she had, and was being treated for, enterocolitis. This is an infection in the small intestine where so the gut becomes inflamed and starts to come away.
Glory was given gold star treatment and monitored every ten minutes throughout the day. The amount of tests and scans this girl had to try and fix her was unreal. However, on Wednesday 27 April, also my mum’s birthday, Glory was in so much pain. The treatment and the painkillers weren’t working, and I had to make the decision the put her to sleep. With her just being three years old was, without doubt, the hardest thing I have ever had to do and I don’t think that a day will go by where I don’t think about my little girl. God has taken an angel!
