"GOOD-BYE TO ASPEN"

THE DREADED DECISION DAY HAD COME.

For all of us with 'older' horses, there may come a time when we are given the responsibility of relieving our beloved friend's pain. My husband, Gary, and I were given this challenge recently. As hard as it all was to do, I feel privileged to have been with her at the end. I'm speaking of our Appaloosa mare, Aspen, the 'Wonder Horse', Alphafa Sue, our Esmerelda to our gelding's nickname of Quasimoto. After nearly 13 years of companionship, and wonderful memories, we had to "let her go".

And what a life she had! We bought her in 1993, from the same stable that we found Magnum, our quarterhorse gelding, a year earlier. We were told that she was 11 years old, but she could have been 16.

About two years ago, Aspen started to develop 'moon blindness' in her left eye. It was amazing to watch her walking around her pasture. (It was more like 'tip-toeing'!) You could almost 'hear'  her counting the steps she took from one tree to the other and ultimately to her feeder!! (Her favorite place. Ha!) She did get some nicks on her forehead, but as long as we didn't 'move the furniture'  in her pasture, her progressive blindness didn't seem to bother her. She actually listened better when you rode her, because she knew she HAD  to trust us!

Although it took us time to realize it, she had also been developing "Cushings disease". This is a tumor on her pituitary gland which shows up by not allowing her body to shed her coat in the summer and growing very long in the winter. Hence, she was sweating more than normal, mostly behind her elbows and between her hind legs. None of this seemed to 'slow her down'  however!!

Fast forward to the present time. By now she had become totally blind. As our vet said after examining her left eye and then her right, "She's blind in this eye and can't see out of the other." But, again, she got along fairly well, especially with her 2 herd members in the pastures next to her to watch out for her. (It's always been fun to watch them interact.) The Cushings disease never seemed to bother her. We would hose her down often in the heat of the summer.

The final insult came when she developed arthritis. It seemed to hit her fast and hard. We had our vet out again and she diagnosed her. We could give her medication and add supplements to her diet, but Dr. Angie said that one day she just won't be able to get up. In the next few days, she continued to be her old self when it came to letting us know that it was feeding time. She'd whiney and neigh, then trot toward her feeder, but you could see the pain when she realized that trotting really hurt!

Over the next few days, we realized that she was not 'locking'  her front knees in order to sleep standing up. Her joints were obviously swollen. Five days later while our horseshoer was over to trim our 2 other horses, Aspen "told" us she needed help. She laid down three times just behind us. She was not really trying to roll over, she was trying to relax, but her legs would not be still. They moved like a dogs does when they dream and are chasing a ball or rabbit. She just looked soooo tired!

Gary and I just knew. We had to listen to Aspen and do what was best for her.