Too much realism

My four little mini Shetland ponies

Yesterday I spent 6 or more hours with my neighbor Jan over at the other neighbors house helping them deal with one of their injured horses. Seems that one of their horses fell on the ice and snow and either fractured its pelvis or severely damaged the supporting ligaments in the hip socket. Either way, the horse couldn't get up and we had to roll the horse frequently and try to keep it warm with blankets as the windchill was just about zero.

The vet came out last evening and thought it would be worth it to give the horse a day to see if it could get it's legs under her and stand on her own. She did manage to get up twice, but it became abundantly clear that there was something very wrong and her rear legs were not functioning as they should. But about two hours ago the horse fell with its legs in the froggy position. Definetly not a viable position for a horse. Three of us managed to lift her back end and tuck a leg under her so that we could roll her onto her side. After getting her more comfortable, we could see her hip was out of socket and it appears as if she broke the left side of her pelvis. She was grinding her teeth and grunting in pain. It was a horrible, horrible sight. No vet could get out here within several hours, so it was up to the neighbor to have to put the horse down and out of agony by shooting her.

I have never had to witness this before. I have had dogs humanely put down at the vets with medication that stops the heart, but I have never had to hear the sound of the moment of death. Yes, it was the right thing to do and the most humane, but it was brutally real. We have 9 horses and this is my worst nightmare. I pray that I will never have to do this with one of our horses because it would be like shooting a member of your family that you love. To watch an animal suffer is a miserable thing in which to bear witness. They are incapable of expressing in words what hurts, but their eyes express plenty of emotion.

I am very grateful to our good neighbors who we all must count on for help in times of trouble. Friends are family that we meet along the way and I am sure glad that I have such good friends who just happen to be my neighbors.

Since today just happend to be Veteran's Day, Marc had the pleasure of being home to help out with all this realism. Yes, animals are an intergal part of our lives, and I would not want change our lifestyle and not have animals, but having to make these decisions are just plain awful.

Now, to my good friend Tifanni, try to top that day!! I call her Lucy and I am Ethel for all the escapades we have faced and the unfortunate luck that seems to happen around us. I am now enjoying another Corona and hoping that tomorrow can just be a normal day.