Part of E's place. She has a riding program for children in the summers - showing and summer camps etc. The pix was taken from the barn where she lives in an apt. over the barn. The main house is where her really great parents live and the property is 42 acres. Her dad is a farrier and has been involved with horses his whole life too...
Here are E's horses and ponies....
Furry Husband with E's giant dog.... oh, and a cat tail....cats like to be part of things too!
A view of the pasture from E's front door....
*WARNING - HORSE DEATH - STOP HERE IF IT WILL BOTHER YOU*
Wednesday was really nice - walking in the woods and all around and seeing the property, the pond, the wildlife - ducks, deer etc... I helped E feed and enjoyed meeting all the horses, hearing about their personalities, where they came from and how long she's had them. Loved her barn!
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Thurs morning tho' Furry Husband and I were up, doing dishes and general cleaning up of stuff from dinner the night before while E was outside doing chores, when E comes blasting in - "I've got a horse down and need you now!" She said later, she doesn't have many people who would react that fast and come running out...
We were in our pj's, threw hat/coat/shoes on and ran out... we jump on the 4wheeler she has running and she drove off going what seemed like 100mph... thought both Furry Husband and I would tumble right off the damn thing!
We were in our pj's, threw hat/coat/shoes on and ran out... we jump on the 4wheeler she has running and she drove off going what seemed like 100mph... thought both Furry Husband and I would tumble right off the damn thing!
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We go into a stand of trees on her place where her 32 yr old horse was down... ice all around under the trees, trees all around so there isn't a place for him to get up... don't know how long he'd been down... he's shivering violently, head was in a pool of standing water, bad gum color, shocky, eyes glazing over... we are pulling him and trying to get him moved... his head would come up and smash back down on the ice so hard... the eye on the ground was like gone... his teeth were breaking with the struggling... blood all out of his mouth... Furry took the 4wheeler back to the main house to get E's dad for more muscle...
We actually got him out of the trees by tying his halter to the 4wheeler and sliding him down a slope covered with ice... it's raining, there is standing water everywhere - we are ankle deep in mud - we are all soaked - we sort of get him so he tried to get up with his front feet but there was nothing behind to get him standing - dunno if something was wrong or he was too tired to use his hind end... and he would just slide... then crash so hard back down... we were out there for 2 hrs trying everything... and it was bad, horse was so exhausted, completely soaked, shaking violently, hypothermic I'm sure... shock... blood coming out of his mouth... we had NO WAY to get him up and I think if we did, he would have crashed back down if he tried to take a step and slid - it was inevitable he would slide in the mud as we were on a slope. He was in a really bad way... it was raining, 3 more inches expected so not like we could leave him to rest for a bit and try again...tractor would get stuck out there with the mud...
E's dad left for a gun.
E headed in because she can't see/hear the gun.... this was a horse she'd owned for a long time - campaigned in eventing and jumping before retiring him. Furry Husband was going to stay and I talked him out of it... he would not want to see such a thing and wouldn't be able to get it out of his mind.... so we started walking in... we were almost in and I heard the shot from behind me... made me jump and I started crying... just so sad. Like E said, she got him thru the worst part of winter and this is how he has to go...so hard and brutally. She was o.k. because he was 32, had a really good life.... all that... but still. Very difficult and it was a sad day for all of us.
Don't think I'll ever forget that shot behind me....
After that, her Dad came in and we took turns getting showers... my hands hurt so bad and didn't work... they stung for a really long time... touching my skin, like my chest or belly where I was warmer hurt really bad... couldn't stand to wash my hair it hurt too much... fingertips stung so bad... took awhile even after a shower where they weren't painful.... don't think I've had them hurt like that ever but we were soaked and so wet and it was cold. Didn't really ever warm up that day!
We went to a local winery and did some things to get off the property and get our minds off things.... it was o.k.... went out to dinner that night.... topic always came back to Cas and how it ended for him and how we tried everything possible....E's husband said he was glad we were there because her Dad wouldn't have tried as much and would have wanted to put the horse down right away and it would have been a lot harder on E without us there to help and try everything we could.... so ? I guess it was good we were there...?
I know it's part of having animals in your life - having that knowledge sure doesn't make the losses any easier.
We actually got him out of the trees by tying his halter to the 4wheeler and sliding him down a slope covered with ice... it's raining, there is standing water everywhere - we are ankle deep in mud - we are all soaked - we sort of get him so he tried to get up with his front feet but there was nothing behind to get him standing - dunno if something was wrong or he was too tired to use his hind end... and he would just slide... then crash so hard back down... we were out there for 2 hrs trying everything... and it was bad, horse was so exhausted, completely soaked, shaking violently, hypothermic I'm sure... shock... blood coming out of his mouth... we had NO WAY to get him up and I think if we did, he would have crashed back down if he tried to take a step and slid - it was inevitable he would slide in the mud as we were on a slope. He was in a really bad way... it was raining, 3 more inches expected so not like we could leave him to rest for a bit and try again...tractor would get stuck out there with the mud...
E's dad left for a gun.
E headed in because she can't see/hear the gun.... this was a horse she'd owned for a long time - campaigned in eventing and jumping before retiring him. Furry Husband was going to stay and I talked him out of it... he would not want to see such a thing and wouldn't be able to get it out of his mind.... so we started walking in... we were almost in and I heard the shot from behind me... made me jump and I started crying... just so sad. Like E said, she got him thru the worst part of winter and this is how he has to go...so hard and brutally. She was o.k. because he was 32, had a really good life.... all that... but still. Very difficult and it was a sad day for all of us.
Don't think I'll ever forget that shot behind me....
After that, her Dad came in and we took turns getting showers... my hands hurt so bad and didn't work... they stung for a really long time... touching my skin, like my chest or belly where I was warmer hurt really bad... couldn't stand to wash my hair it hurt too much... fingertips stung so bad... took awhile even after a shower where they weren't painful.... don't think I've had them hurt like that ever but we were soaked and so wet and it was cold. Didn't really ever warm up that day!
We went to a local winery and did some things to get off the property and get our minds off things.... it was o.k.... went out to dinner that night.... topic always came back to Cas and how it ended for him and how we tried everything possible....E's husband said he was glad we were there because her Dad wouldn't have tried as much and would have wanted to put the horse down right away and it would have been a lot harder on E without us there to help and try everything we could.... so ? I guess it was good we were there...?
I know it's part of having animals in your life - having that knowledge sure doesn't make the losses any easier.
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The experience made coming home a lot sweeter... to see all our animals happy and healthy and I am incredibly happy to be HOME SWEET HOME!
4 comments:
boy that is tough stuff. They are your family and at 32yrs old...they are probably closer than family!
I can imagine the gut wrenching emotion that came with all that trying and seeing
How horrible, it must have been really tough on you all.
Terrible for E that he was in such a bad condition too. As you say, the memories stay with you.
DebH - yes - very very difficult and like I told Furry on the way back from the pasture when I was crying... I didn't even KNOW Cas and I was this sad for him and E.
HorseofCourse - yes, it was hard to see a horse in that bad of shape. It was rough and I know E was very sad it had to go that way after she'd brought him through the worst of winter. She was looking forward to letting him have a summer with the warm sun on his back.
Hard that you were there, but I'm so glad you were!!! E needed to be in charge of how long and how much you tried, and that is hard with a dad influence around. I'm glad she knows she gave Cas every chance possible! It does make you give all your critters and extra scratch when you get home, and remind us how lucky we are most of the time!!
PS- that wet cold back East KILLS me... I'll take dry below zero over it every time!
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