Good Bye Old Friend

One of the paddocks he freely loved and roamed.

Last year I posted about our beloved horse Tony. To get the full picture of our time with Tony, you can check out: Bread Power

Lately our Tony has been doing it tough. About six weeks ago we noticed his tongue hanging out of his mouth. My hubby says it's because he had lost nearly all his top teeth. He had one tooth left. It made it very difficult for him to graze and chew grass. He was losing condition by the day. We fed him bread regularly to help him get by. (Thanks to our local bakery for all the free bread).

Yesterday I went out to find him unable to get up. With hubby away interstate and Mitch at uni, I was truly alarmed. He neighed at me in desperation and I patted him to help him relax. Then I raced down the hill and lugged two buckets of water up to him. By the time I got there, he was gone. I looked over to find him under one of the nearby trees but he did not come toward me. I took over the water and he drank half of one of the buckets.

Racing back down the hill I was exhilarated that he got up and I fooled myself into thinking "oh he's okay". I returned with three bags of bread and fed him for what seemed like ages. He couldn't really eat it properly, but he managed to get the whole lot down. Proud as punch I patted him and said "see you tomorrow buddy". I was glad because the water trough was not far, so I figured he would be alright.

Driving home I kept ignoring my gut instinct which was telling me I should go up the valley and fetch one of the horse farmers to put him down. Then I told myself I was overreacting and he was fine.

Today is Good Friday and I went out with Mitch. We found him lying not far from the water trough. He most likely laid down and was simply unable to get up. I cannot imagine the strength he mustered yesterday to lift himself when he saw me. I now firmly believe if I hadn't appeared he wouldn't have struggled to get up. Tony looked much worse for wear today. He was deteriorating. But, I was still in denial. And my denial was not helping Tony. He was clearly suffering. As he had probably being doing the past few days.

Mitch was angry at me. He saw the state Tony was in and said "ma forget the damn bread, he needs to go. Just look at him ma, just look at him!" And of course he was right. We called. They came. They were experts. Without a doubt. Tony had run his course. I turned my head. It was over. We thanked them. And that was that. Good bye old friend.