QRTRHRS
Elite Member
My wife and I had to bury another horse today and not the one I was expecting. Some of you may recall that I posted about putting one down last summer or so but she was like 31 or 33, can't remember unless I go look it up. I have another that is 31 and a couple in their mid twenties so I never know what to expect when I go to the barn in the morning.
Our flea bitten grey Arab stallion colicked a couple of days ago. During his thrashing, he broke a rib and had a collapsed lung. We and the vet did what we could short of taking him to the large animal hospital. Unfortunately, that is not a financial option nor is their one close by. While she had checked on him several times until the wee hours, my wife found him dead this morning.
"Jett" was out of the mare we put down last summer. He would have been 21 years old this coming April. Early on before I met my wife, she had boarded her horses with someone who turned out to be her worst nightmare. Seems this jerk had taken a 2x4 to Jett. Some people just don't get the stallion mentallity which is, "hey, your a male, I need to be one up on you". Jett never forgot that incident and each time we tried to trim that one back hoof, he let us know.
Jett was pretty aloof when I met him but over time, I got him to do things for me that he would not do for my wife. For instance, he would stand for me to bridle him in the field. Though he was trained and rideable, I never rode him lacking the experiance.
If I could describe Jett, it was like handling a 1000 pound freight train. You had to be on guard for the mouth but he was generally respectful. I handled Jett while breeding and I will tell you that breeding horses is anything other than erotic.
Jett loved to be groomed once he relaxed and stopped trying to nip me. If I approached him with the brush, he knew he was in for a treat and would speak to me in his language with much excitement.
We buried Jett next to his mamma. Being focused on the task at hand, I just did what I had to do. My wife went into the house to warm up while I stayed behind to finish cleaning up his stall. It was then that it all came home and hit me how much I will miss him. I will allways regret never being to spend more time grooming him or gaining the experiance to actually ride him. To some, he was just a horse. Just something to own like any other pet. To us, my wife having raised him from birth and to me, knowing him since 1997, he was one of those once in a lifetime animals.
As I write this, I am thinking about a coworker who's pet dog while boarded, escaped and was hit on the highway. My friend, like many of us, cowboyed up. For his young daughter, it was a hard lesson on life. Pets, and horses are really oversized pets for many of us, will provide the best of times and the worst of times.
Thanks for listening.
Our flea bitten grey Arab stallion colicked a couple of days ago. During his thrashing, he broke a rib and had a collapsed lung. We and the vet did what we could short of taking him to the large animal hospital. Unfortunately, that is not a financial option nor is their one close by. While she had checked on him several times until the wee hours, my wife found him dead this morning.
"Jett" was out of the mare we put down last summer. He would have been 21 years old this coming April. Early on before I met my wife, she had boarded her horses with someone who turned out to be her worst nightmare. Seems this jerk had taken a 2x4 to Jett. Some people just don't get the stallion mentallity which is, "hey, your a male, I need to be one up on you". Jett never forgot that incident and each time we tried to trim that one back hoof, he let us know.
Jett was pretty aloof when I met him but over time, I got him to do things for me that he would not do for my wife. For instance, he would stand for me to bridle him in the field. Though he was trained and rideable, I never rode him lacking the experiance.
If I could describe Jett, it was like handling a 1000 pound freight train. You had to be on guard for the mouth but he was generally respectful. I handled Jett while breeding and I will tell you that breeding horses is anything other than erotic.
Jett loved to be groomed once he relaxed and stopped trying to nip me. If I approached him with the brush, he knew he was in for a treat and would speak to me in his language with much excitement.
We buried Jett next to his mamma. Being focused on the task at hand, I just did what I had to do. My wife went into the house to warm up while I stayed behind to finish cleaning up his stall. It was then that it all came home and hit me how much I will miss him. I will allways regret never being to spend more time grooming him or gaining the experiance to actually ride him. To some, he was just a horse. Just something to own like any other pet. To us, my wife having raised him from birth and to me, knowing him since 1997, he was one of those once in a lifetime animals.
As I write this, I am thinking about a coworker who's pet dog while boarded, escaped and was hit on the highway. My friend, like many of us, cowboyed up. For his young daughter, it was a hard lesson on life. Pets, and horses are really oversized pets for many of us, will provide the best of times and the worst of times.
Thanks for listening.
