Sequel, a top show hunter owned by Terry Brown’s Showcase Ltd., was euthanized on Jan. 11 due to complications from colic. He was 13.

Sequel enjoyed much success in the professional hunter divisions with owner and rider Brown. She imported the bay, Hanoverian gelding in 2003, and showed him in the first year green division in 2004.

In 2005, Sequel topped the U.S. Equestrian Federation National Horse of the Year standings in the second year green and regular working divisions. He repeated his regular working hunter national title in 2006 (see p. 8).

Sequel was a bit of an anomaly in the professional hunter divisions–a horse owned by a professional who showed him for pleasure, not as a sales prospect or an investment.

“Truthfully, Sequel was my amateur hunter. There was no pressure, no owner expectations. It was just a case of seeing how good he could be on any given day,” said Brown, who runs a breeding, training and sales business in Canton, Ga.

“It’s hard to allow yourself to develop that bond when you are in the business. When I got Sequel, I said, ‘This is a horse I’m going to keep.’ So, I let that bond form, and he never let me down. He’s impossible for me to replace.”

Sequel hadn’t shown since August 2006, and Brown was gearing up to attend the Gulf Coast winter series (Miss.) beginning in February. Brown was in Lexington, Ky., for the Keeneland Thoroughbred sales when her barn help discovered Sequel colicking and in distress. Sequel was immediately shipped to the University of Georgia veterinary clinic, but it was discovered upon his arrival that his stomach had ruptured.

“It was very fast and very difficult. I really regret not being there with him. The only thing I wanted to give Sequel was a long life on the farm when he couldn’t show anymore. It’s just typical–here’s a horse with no health issues. He’d never colicked before that. It was just a freak thing–what all of us fear,” Brown said.