Josie Rinta rides Scout in late 2013. Scout rode in competitions up until 2014, retiring on the Rinta’s farm until he died last month after 36 years of life and several riders.
A horse with a history in Clark County passed away last month, notable for becoming adept at gaming more than halfway into his long life.
Scout, a 36-year-old paint gelding, was euthanized Dec. 12 after he didn’t take well to treatment for recovery from an eye injury. His decline was abrupt for the horse whose most recent owner Jackie Rinta said was as healthy and lively as he had been throughout his life spanning four decades.
Rinta said Scout was the oldest paint horse that the veterinarian who facilitated the procedure had encountered — a testament to his longevity.
The Rintas came into ownership of Scout in early 2013 to serve as the riding horse for Jackie’s daughter, Josie. She rode Scout up until the 2014 Clark County Fair where he had the distinction of being the oldest horse in that year’s competition.
Scout’s competitive career spans three owners and roughly 16 years, beginning almost two decades ago with Joan Cooper of La Center. By the time she got ahold of Scout he was 18, which decades ago would be at the end of a horse’s life.
To Cooper’s understanding Scout was being used as a backup trail horse prior to her ownership. After receiving the horse for a reduced price due to the connection his previous owner noticed between him and Cooper, Scout’s new owner started to get him into shape, then started drill team with him and did that for about two years, she said.
Scout got some use while Cooper’s daughter Katie was in high school with the equestrian team, setting two district records as a team when he was 26 — fairly advanced in age considering the modern average lifespan of a horse falls roughly between 25-30 years. Though Cooper explained those records Scout set have since been broken, Scout would go on to move through two more owners in his tenure, serving as a training horse of sorts for upstart equestrians.
Scout’s transition out of more rigorous competition came as the result of an episode in 2009 where Cooper wasn’t sure if the horse could pull through. Awoken by one of Cooper’s other horses, she went to the barn to find Scout on the ground in the throes of colic, a potentially lethal ailment in horses.
The vet called to the scene recommended taking Scout to Oregon State University’s hospital in Corvallis for colic surgery, Cooper recounted, though with Scout’s age Cooper did not think the trip would be beneficial to the horse.
“I just looked at him and said ‘are you ready to go,’ and he gave me this look, and I just said ‘it’s not his time yet,’” Cooper recalled.
For about 48 hours she stayed with Scout in her barn monitoring him, walking him hourly and keeping him hydrated before Scout snapped out of the ailment. Upon a checkup after the episode, Cooper recounted that the vet was “completely in awe” that Scout was able to make the recovery.
After Scout’s colic episode Cooper said it was time to ease up on the competitions with him, deciding to give him to the Adams family where he helped get Taylor Adams into riding. From the Adams he ended up with the Rinta family, working to get Josie Rinta into riding.
After his last competition, Jackie Rinta said Scout was able to retire in “horse Disneyland” on their then-recently-purchased farmland near Ridgefield. Although 32 years old when the Rintas became his owner, Jackie explained that up until the last few weeks before he was put down he was as lively and happy as he had been for decades.
The day he was put down Rinta’s daughters decorated the barn with a Christmas tree and music, spending several hours with the beloved horse before saying their last goodbye.
“We wanted him to pass away with all the respect that he deserved, and without any suffering,” Rinta said.
“It’s difficult to say goodbye regardless, but we definitely wanted to make sure that he was comfortable and that the goodbye was good so that we wouldn’t have any regrets, and we don’t,” Rinta said. “It was absolutely the right time because he lived 36 phenomenal years.”
Regarding his character, both Rinta and Cooper commented on what made their long-lived horse memorable.
“He carried himself very proud and confident, literally up until the end, just like he owned the world,” Rinta said.
“Once he learned to trust his owner, he would literally give 150 percent of himself every time you did anything with him,” Cooper said. “He was very easy to work with on the ground in any capacity.”
“When you rode him, no matter what you were doing … he really made sure he took wonderful care of his rider,” Cooper said.
