Shanti is gone.
She's the mare that had cushings, and the horse that was the BO personal horse. When we dropped off the horses on Friday evening I saw her in a stall and she was a mess, lying down in a spot that was filled with urine and manure.
I checked her water, made sure she had hay. The BO was on her way back, having cut her trip short due to other bad news - a close friend died in a low water crossing accident.
(Low water crossings are terribly dangerous here, and at night you can't see how deep water is across the road. There is a host of problems with officials barricading them. You can read the news story the accident here.)
Shanti hadn't been doing well, and a week ago we were all pretty worried. She'd dropped weight and wouldn't eat a week ago when I went out to feed. But this morning she was much, much worse.
I wet down her food as the note left for me said, and made sure she was drinking. She was drinking - in fact she was just standing over her water, drinking, sometimes zoned out. I rubbed her, and fretted. She ate everything, but she looked awful. The BO thinks she dropped 100 pounds in a week (basically, while the BO was gone).
The feeding crew that helps when the BO is gone tried all kinds of things to help Shanti. None of it was enough.
Shanti ate everything I gave her and I rubbed her head gently. She closed her eyes and stood here. Just a few years ago she was an endurance horse. She won top prizes in competitive trail. Now she was a shell of her former self, too emaciated to move from her one spot in the stall.
Sierra joined me at the barn and we went for a trail ride (which will be another blog post). When we came back Shanti was gone. The BO trailered her to the vet and let her go so she could at last run the trails in a place where there is no cushings, plenty of sweet grass, and blue ribbons for her lovely mane.
Rest in peace, Shanti.
12 comments:
Very sad - glad you were able to give her some comfort.
So sorry for the loss of Shanti. I am glad she was not alone. We lost our older cushings mare, Ginger, this last September from torsion colic.
Hugs and prayers to all
Sorry for the loss all round. Sounds like she was a good horse. Glad you were there for her.
Poor Shanti. RIP.
How sad. That mare knew she was loved.
It's always sad when a good horse dies. ((hugs))
So sad..it's always so hard loosing an animal family member. I'm sure she felt loved in her last days
Gosh, that's a lot of bad news- friend drowning in his car and then Shanti! I'm so sorry for your losses. My thoughts and prayers are with you and the families
Shanti's loss is sad and the loss of a dear friend is even sadder.
May you be there when your friend needs you.
God bless.
It's always so sad when we lose our friends. Shanti sounds like she had a good life and was well loved. She's running free now with no sickness to bother her. Go well, Shant.
I was at that water crossing on Friday evening. I had the kids in the car with me, and wasn't thinking clearly. For some reason, I wanted to go down Specht road to go home, and I headed that way until I saw barricades (I just forgot about all the rain). One truck went around me, obviously intent on testing the water anyway. I said "No way kids. We are turning around and taking a long way home". You have to really use common sense with the water crossings around here.
So sad. It's a good thing you were able to help a bit. It's so hard to watch them fade away like that.
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