Hard Decisions
I talked a bit here: http://equestrian.livejournal.com/6458735.html about what has been going on with my 32 yr old mare. Well, I've been following the vet's advice on changing her diet, etc, only to continually see her weight slip away.
After a lot of hard thinking I decided there is no way I can let her suffer through the winter. Already her energy level keeps going down and down and his piss and vinegar attitude has been replaced with a listless one. My parents dug her a grave and I'm hoping she can stay relatively comphy until Dec.
I got Ginger when I was 13, she was my first horse and an absolute dream come true for me. My 4-H leader had taken her from a sour life as a camp horse and happily gave her to me- a beginner. This was anything but a beginners horse! Ginger quickly gained the name Spit Fire, and Fire Cracker (and later on in high school, Bitchy) but I learned to ride, and fall, on this mare. She taught me a lot about riding, and she kept me out of trouble. I retired her at age 20 because her back and joints were getting too ouchie for her to do anything, so she moved on to being a spoiled pasture puff at my friends house for the next 8 years.
She moved back to my farm four years ago after my friend abandoned Ginger, and I found an ad on craigslist from her mother for a 'free toro bread mare, Ginger'. Not the way to find your leased horse, but I was happy I had chanced upon the ad (and furious at my old friend). Since then Ginger has always been her spunky self. Opening gates to flirt with my gelding, and pissing in the water tank when the other mares make her mad. Any chance she got she'd sneak out of the gate for a nice gallop around the farm kicking up her heels and squealing in delight. Then in June of this year it was as if suddenly someone pulled a plug on her, she's calm, she doesn't take her chance to sneak out, and when she does get out she just stands there looking mournfully towards the horizon. And I can't explain how much I hate this, how much I hate having to make this decision to end her pain, and I'm more than likely being selfish waiting until Dec. to have it done- but I'm going to miss my Old Lady so incredibly much it hurts.
After a lot of hard thinking I decided there is no way I can let her suffer through the winter. Already her energy level keeps going down and down and his piss and vinegar attitude has been replaced with a listless one. My parents dug her a grave and I'm hoping she can stay relatively comphy until Dec.
I got Ginger when I was 13, she was my first horse and an absolute dream come true for me. My 4-H leader had taken her from a sour life as a camp horse and happily gave her to me- a beginner. This was anything but a beginners horse! Ginger quickly gained the name Spit Fire, and Fire Cracker (and later on in high school, Bitchy) but I learned to ride, and fall, on this mare. She taught me a lot about riding, and she kept me out of trouble. I retired her at age 20 because her back and joints were getting too ouchie for her to do anything, so she moved on to being a spoiled pasture puff at my friends house for the next 8 years.
She moved back to my farm four years ago after my friend abandoned Ginger, and I found an ad on craigslist from her mother for a 'free toro bread mare, Ginger'. Not the way to find your leased horse, but I was happy I had chanced upon the ad (and furious at my old friend). Since then Ginger has always been her spunky self. Opening gates to flirt with my gelding, and pissing in the water tank when the other mares make her mad. Any chance she got she'd sneak out of the gate for a nice gallop around the farm kicking up her heels and squealing in delight. Then in June of this year it was as if suddenly someone pulled a plug on her, she's calm, she doesn't take her chance to sneak out, and when she does get out she just stands there looking mournfully towards the horizon. And I can't explain how much I hate this, how much I hate having to make this decision to end her pain, and I'm more than likely being selfish waiting until Dec. to have it done- but I'm going to miss my Old Lady so incredibly much it hurts.