Lokenzo Park

“Tudor Kingdom” 1988 - 2006

Tudor was a special stallion that I was lucky to have in my life. I first saw him looking at another horse but he caught my eye from the beginning. He wasn’t looking so great and I was informed that he had put on a tonne of weight before I saw him. Having become friends with the person since I got him I am positive this is true as there is one thing her horses aren’t and that’s skinny!

Tudor came for a holiday to our place with the stallion I had actually gone to look at. After 2 weeks it was Tudor who I had fallen for. The other stallion went home while Tudor continued to gain his weight and health. He started some light schooling and things were looking good.

One day Tudor started coughing, I checked for nasal discharge, there was none. I feared the worst, I started worrying about cancers. When Michael scoped him we discovered epiglottis entrapment. Not as bad as I had feared but still requiring surgery. Michael asked was I sure I wanted to spend this kind of money as at the end of the day he was now a 15yo stallion and not worth anything. Well that was a silly question, when can I book him for the surgery!

Tudor recovered well and started doing some work again and regaining more weight that he had lost through his ordeal. Unfortunately however after some consistent work he would go lame. I decided to geld and retire him, it wasn’t fair to have him in pain and it definitely wasn’t fair leaving him entire to live a life of solitude.

The gelding went well and I put him in a gorgeous big paddock in Serpentine. It didn’t take long for Tudor to get bored. He was hooning around the paddock without a care in the world. He wasn’t sound enough for consistent work but he wasn’t crippled either. I managed by chance to find a family looking for a horse for the occasional trail ride. Tudor settled in so well and looked a million dollars while he was with Linda. He got to holiday on hundreds of acres in York and got spoilt with carrots and cuddles. Eventually Linda wanted something presenting more of a challenge so Tudor came home.

For some reason he got quite upset, he was unsettled and his manure smelt extremely bad. I booked him in with Michael to be put to sleep. A miracle happen over that weekend, he settled and recovered. He was back to his normal bright self so I cancelled the booking.

He was happy for another few months and I decided to lease him out once again as he didn’t like not having a ‘job’. Sadly, on Boxing Day of 2006 I got a dreaded call. Tudor was gone. Kuri said that he had gone into a cold sweat, the vet suspected a tumour wrapped around his intestine and he was laid to rest.

Thank you Marissa for giving me the opportunity to have a horse as special as Tudor was. I know you were out of pocket a lot with him but without you he would never have had those last few years of happiness. You were his saviour, I just picked up from your hard work and continued with it.

Tudor, I will always love you and cherish our memories, there is always a spot reserved for you in my heart. You were bred for stardom and yet people had let you down along the way. I only wish I could have got you as a young horse, a horse before he had an injured knee, a horse before he knew what it was like to be hungry, a horse that didn’t have a split in his tongue and ‘hammer work’ done to his teeth. You had the best nature, you shouldn’t have known what it was like to go without. To this day I keep your photo on my wall, your content look while eating a carrot standing in a huge paddock full of feed and a nice round belly. I am glad that you fell into Marissa’s hands and then found your way to me, at least from that day on you knew someone cared. I don’t know what happened in your years before you found Marissa but your fear and body showed signs of things I could only imagine. You only had a chance to win Champion Thoroughbred once but you were always and still are my Champion.