Don't know why I'm sharing this, except that I know that plenty of you will be able to relate to what happened this morning. I still can't believe it myself. Mighty was a Standardbred, former cart-racer and broodmare. The nicest, most trusting, even-tempered mare I've ever met. 5 years ago, some teenagers shot into her herd, killing one mare and injuring Mighty. Since she was no longer useful for racing or breeding, she came to our sanctuary for retirement, at age 11. She was the queen from day one, but not in the typical nasty-mare way. She was simply respected. The old pony and little donkey mooned over her, silly in love. We sent her out for re-training at one point, fearing that she would get bored just hanging around the yard with nothing to do. The trainer remarked that Mighty was one of the most cooperative, willing horses she'd ever worked with. Unfortunately, the gunshot injury left her heavy-footed and choppy-gaited, and so riding was never all that fun. We kinda gave up on it and let her just go back to being the Queen of her domain out in the pasture. Everybody was happy for a long time. To make a long story short, this morning while I was doing chores, I realized that Mighty had colicked. Called the vet, and waited over 2 hours. Gave her bantamine and walked her in the meantime. She didn't seem to be severely painful, but just uncomfortable. She didn't twist or roll, just got up & laid down a lot, and breathed a bit heavy. She looked scared. The very good and kind vet did the whole tube and glove and mineral oil thing, and got reflux from Mighty's stomach. Bad sign. Dr. gave pain meds and we walked a bit more, but the horses'legs wanted to buckle. We walked from 10 til 1, and finally she laid down and would not get back up. Within moments her pain was much more evident. After a few minutes of watching her groan and strain, the vet and I decided to put her down. She died at about 2 this afternoon, first symptoms noticed at 9 am. I should mention that my non-regular vet came out first, and said she thought it would turn out just the way it did. Then my regular vet came, and agreed that there simply was no treatment, the horse was definitely in pain, and euthanasia was the right choice. We were not hasty. I am simply in shock. This was a gorgeous, shining, elegant, youthful animal. We should have had her another 20 years. I feel so cheated, on her behalf and my own. A belly ache in the morning, dead by mid-day. How can such a vibrant, sturdy animal as a horse be so fragile? Mighty was the easiest keeper I've ever had. Ate what you put in front of her and thrived. Was my farrier's favorite customer. She was just an all-around gem, and I truly cannot believe she is gone. Gotta go, the backhoe is here.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), June 18, 2001

Answers

Loss of a loved one is a gut wrenching experience, be it a people or a critter. It is especually difficult when we see a bit of wisdom in the critter that makes them seem to understand us better than we understand ourselves. Animals don,t backstab, nor gossip, and they don,t cheat or lie, (except about the grain bucket); but whats important is that they are GOD,S animals, we are just the caretakers for such a short period of time. I once thought of passsing as unfair, but then realized it was not my decision, but rather GODS.

I have been here long enought to notice that the good die young; and why. In memory of people passing have they not made changes; came around, wised up. Every one who passes has finally learned their "life lesson" prior to leaving; its the tough old coots that hang on, ignoring what they are here for, and that is to teach and to learn; there is no further justification for being here.

Maybe your horse,s difficulity with her wound brought sadness to GODS eyes.....

-- mitch hearn (moopups1@aol.com), June 18, 2001.

Shannon, I am so sorry to hear of you loss. These critters sure do work their way into our hearts and it is so hard to let them go. My thoughts and prayers will be with you.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), June 18, 2001.

Shannon, memories came flooding back as I read your post. My husband and I also lost our horse to colic. He was fine in the morning, but when I came home from work, it was clear that he had been in extreem discomfort for a while. He was rolling, and I could only get him to stop for a brief period at a time. The vet came out right away at 6pm, but I could tell by her eyes, and manner, that she held out little hope that the shots would help. After several hours of wishful thinking, and futile attempts to get him to walk, stand, whatever, we too, realized that some things just can't get better. The vet came back at 10pm. That horse Chi, sure was not good for much in this world except eating, and making us and his horse buddy happy. But we loved him like a part of the family. It was with extreem pain on our part, but relief for him that we had him put down. My husband decided to work out his greif by digging Chi's grave. It was a full moon, crisp October night. I would not imagined the hole could be dug by hand in our clay (6'deep) but I guess Brian had a lot of greif to work out. Next day was spent in the emergency room dealing with the tendonitis from digging the stupid hole (back hoes are a good thing). Our other horse was so lonely that we rushed out and got a quickly chosen replacement. She has her own personality, but she sure is not a jem like Chi. We can't even ride her (not that we actually ever got around to doing that part). I guess we should consider ourselves lucky to have had such a wonderful pal. I hope your greif is turned to happy memories soon.

-- Joan (JTYTOR@pressenter.com), June 18, 2001.

Ah, Shannon, I'm so sorry. Been there, done that, several times over the years. Four, to be exact. For a while, we thought it might be some toxic weed in our pasture. Two had colic surgery, both came though that just fine, although the young stallion fell in his stall at the vet that first night, before all the anesthesia had worn off, and broke his elbow. Compound fracture, terrible pain, and all they could do was put him down. The second, a beautiful black mare, survived her surgery, and last week gave us her first foal, a cute, but scrawny bay colt. It is never easy to see an animal suffer the way they do with colic. You did the only thing you could at that point, and I admire you for giving her a good and loving home during the time she was with you. God Bless, Jan

-- Jan in CO (Janice12@aol.com), June 18, 2001.

Shannon, I can totally understand...a few days ago we lost a 3 day old colt to colic-like symptoms. We'd had him vetted since day one, but he kept having recurring stomach pain. We chose not to have a necropsy done, but we all felt he might have had some malformation of the bowel. Not terribly uncommon for foals to have incomplete or blocked bowels. At any rate, his dam is our 18 yr old appaloosa mare who has never been able to conceive before. He was sort of a "miracle baby" but we are rebreeding and keeping our fingers crossed. All you can do is feel comforted by the fact that you did what you could for her and for the time you owned her she had a nice life. It's never easy...

-- elle (eagle-quest@juno.com), June 18, 2001.

Dear Shannon, Like all I am very sorry for you. I had to put a beautiful ewe down this spring when she couldn't deliver and had lost too much blood so the vet couldn't do a c-section. My daughter cried all day. We have experience colic with our horses a few times. Once wasn't really colic it was a snake bite but the horse recoved, once I left the tack room open and both horses recovered thankfully. I still lose sleep over that stupid event. And one time I put a 25 pd sweet protein block with fly replenent in the block with of course molasses, two horses ate the block at one sitting. I feel bad about that too. After this message I am going to the barn to give both my horses kisses. I will think of you tonight. Debbie

-- Debbie (bwolcott@cwis.net), June 18, 2001.

Shannon, Iam so sorry for your loss, we went through the same thing with my husbands paint joe, he rushed him to davis just to find out he had a intestine wraped around a bone and there was no way to save him.The hurt never goes away but it does gets easyer.

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), June 18, 2001.

I'm so sorry, Shannon. This brings up painful memories of Julie's mare dying -- went from apparently just fine to euthanized late at night. I'm sorry you had to have such a heart-wrenching experience!

-- Joy F [in So. Wisconsin] (CatFlunky@excite.com), June 19, 2001.

Thanks, folks. Although nothing really helps, I am comforted by your kind words. I knew that telling you all would help a little.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), June 19, 2001.

Walked your path many times over the years. God bless. Often the kindest deed when no remedy presents itself is giving them back to their Creator.

-- Sandra Nelson (Magin@starband.net), June 19, 2001.

I couldn't let this pass without telling you how truly sorry I am for your loss... All life is terribly fragile, and I know how much you will miss your dear Mighty. I wish there was something I could offer to help ease the pain, but only time will do that... Our thoughts are with you -

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), June 20, 2001.