Big Ben, Canada's most famous show jumping horse, died early Friday 10th December 1999 from colic. He was 23. Big Ben, ridden for over a decade by Ian Millar of Perth, came down with colic around 6 p.m. EST on Friday.
He was euthanized in order to stop the suffering at 6 a.m. this morning. Millar, who was in Toronto on Friday, travelled to Perth today and arrived at Millar Brooke Farm an hour before Big Ben's death.
"You look back on his life and things come to mind about the impact he had on people," said Millar. "And it was not just the people that were close to him, but also the people from afar, and not just while he was competing, but he continued to have that impact long after he retired."
With Millar aboard, Big Ben won two World Cup titles, two Pan American Games gold medals and appeared in three Olympic Games. He is one of two animals, thoroughbred Northern Dancer being the other, to be inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
Big Ben retired from competition in 1994 following a national farewell tour. Through his career, Millar estimates his number of Grand Prix victories at 135. Of those, about 40 came with Big Ben while the rest came from 40 other horses. Ben won show jumping's World Cup in 1988 and 1989, the only Canadian horse to accomplish the feat.
Big Ben was buried at Millar Brooke Farm covered with the blanket given to him by the people at Spruce Meadows in Calgary during his retirement tour five years ago. It says "Thanks For the Memories, Big Ben."
Source: Canoe
Image copyrighted: Dirk Caremans