In fact, Lamaze wasn’t even Hickstead’s owner. But he was Lamaze’s work partner and best friend.
So after a race last week in Italy, when Hickstead began to fall over with Lamaze on his back, the horse turned to make sure his rider was clear before he fell all the way down. He didn’t want to hurt his best friend.
The gold medal-winning Hickstead died instantly of heart failure, without pain.
Hickstead and Lamaze were a good match. Both came from troubled backgrounds. Horse experts said Hickstead was too small for international competition and had a temper that no one could tame. Many said he would never be a winner.
Lamaze’s father was never around; he lived with his grandmother, who was not very dependable. He never went past grade eight in school. But he did learn that he had a gift for horse riding and jumping,
Lamaze is from Montreal. Hickstead was born and bred in Europe, but he made his name in Canada.
When Lamaze first met Hickstead, both horse and rider knew they were meant to be together.
They went on to win many awards for jumping, including gold and silver medals at the Olympics.
When he died, Hickstead ranked No. 1 in the world, thanks to this special partnership.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Animals and people have a long history of working together. In the past, animals were commonly used to help people hunt, travel, and to move heavy loads. Hickstead and Eric Lamaze were different, though. They were partners. In your opinion, what is the difference between working with someone and being their partner?
Reading Prompt: Demonstrating Understanding
Why were Hickstead and Lemaze an unlikely success story? What does this tell you about being successful?
Primary
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by identifying important ideas and some supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Intermediate
Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing important ideas and citing a variety of details that support the main idea (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Grammar Feature: Semi Colon ( ; )
A semi colon is a punctuation mark that connects two complete sentences. But this brings up another question, why would a writer ever do that? The answer is, writers connect two sentences using semi colons to tell their readers that these two sentences are related to each other.
The following sentence from today’s article contains a semi colon. The semi colon tells the reader that there is a relationship between these two parts.
“Lamaze’s father was never around; he lived with his grandmother, who was not very dependable.”
What do you think the relationship is between the two parts of this sentence?
