Those that have lost horses

I had my first eventer, William Hill, PTS on Monday; he was 22 and I'd had him 17 years. I won't bore you with the things he did and how special he was, but he looked so fantastic to the end and that will be my abiding memory of him. I am sad, and still tearful, but he owed me nothing and had a full and active life right to the end - he did a full day Fieldmastering last Tuesday. For me there is no reason to be sad as he is in a better place now; I shall just appreciate how lucky and privileged I was to have owned him and had such good times with him. Thank you William.
 
I'm sitting here crying. I lost 2 within a year.

Sirrius who was a month old had to be pts due to joint ill on the 26th March 2007 (my birthday). What made it feel worse was the fact that the vets had said I could pick him up that day as he was recovering. Then they ran some more tests and said he would not last a week. I was and still am devestated. I still can't talk about him with welling up.

Then 18th March 2008 my beloved soul mate of 20 years was pts aged 30 (or so). She was just getting old and arthritic so we let her go before she started to really struggle. Although I cried for a few days, its easier to remember Gypsy with fondness and smile at her photos.

I want to send heartfelt hugs to everyone who has lost a horse.
 
I lost a horse 9 years ago in a terrible accident. It was very traumatic and upsetting. These days I just remember him fondly and all of the fun that we had together.

RIP Henry x
 
I lost my first pony suddenly to GS aged just 11 years. she really was the most wonderful pony, and I know nothing else will ever compare. I can now remember all the good times, the fun times, and no longer cry. It does make me feel a little sad but yes, you will be able to think about them in time without tears.
 
I miss my Mabel girl pretty much everyday, I lost her four years ago. She was such a darling girl and the greatest leveller in my life. She's the beautiful bay horse with the white star in my siggie.
I'm so lucky I bred a foal from her and he has grown into her image although he's a lot sharper to ride than her we have the same close relationship I had with his mum.
If I think of her now I try to think of the wonderful 21 years we had together and how much she would make me laugh and support me when I was sad in her own special way.
The oddest thing happened when I lost her, she had a strange mark on her shoulder and the following year when Wills got his new summer coat the mark appeared on him in the same place and the same shape and has been there ever since, so I truly believe she is still with us both.
 
i'm not really sure i'm qualified to answer this question... i only lost Shadow about 11 months ago, but i'm still ripped apart. i met her about 16 years ago, and she was everything i knew and understood. we just seemed to breathe eachother. absolutely my soulmate, and i know i'll never find anything like her
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i've only just turned 26 , so i must have met her when i was 10, she was 11/12

i was never lucky enough to have those 'last days'. she had been very very poorly for nearly 2 weeks prior, and had literally turned a corner a day or 2 previously, she just coliced overnight and panicked, HUGELY. myself and vet battled for 2.5hours to save her. i came home with her blood all over my jumper and work clothes (i'd been up first thing in the morning to check on her). they went straight in the bin, i could never see them again. i don't think i've let go yet. i spent the whole of the that day and the next washing everything of hers, bar her grooming kit, just trying to find something to do that was related to her. i think i was left alone for about 1.5hours for the next 2-3 days and i just went crazy when i was on my own. when i had company, i couldn't figure out if i wanted to be cuddled or never be touched again, i changed my mind every few minutes. there are certain songs that i just will not allow myself to, i sometimes find myself balling my eyes out on the way to/from work if a memory catches me about the day/time of year/situation i'm in/lonely/song on the radio etc. the weeks/months following her death, i was a very angry person! she used to be the only who could cheer me up when i was in a black mood, so this was a challenge for my family! i got hugely frustrated if i didn't have plans away from home for the weekend.

to say i'm lost without her is a mere blip on the radar.

i've booked her anniversary off work, i know i won't be able to handle it (i'm welling up now and have tears rolling down my cheeks!). i can't figure out what to do. on one hand i want to walk our old hacking routes, but don't want to be caught out by some random stranger just crying! there are also about 15 routes i want to do which could take a few days! i also want to listen to all the songs i've stopped myself from listening to, clean her tack, re-arrange her rugs in the attic, think about what i should do with her ashes, draw pictures, look at photos and generally day dream. not the most productive use of a day, but i really feel like i need to get the emotion out, and for some reason i want to use this one day, and i just can't let go yet. so fingers crossed, another month will get me there
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it's such a personal thing, that i believe your time for healing is completely individual, some people will never get over it, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. i think i may well be one of those!

keep your chin up hun x
 
Mazzie was taken from us on 13/7/08, in a traffic accident on the M5. The trailer came detached from my friend's car and hit the central reservation and flipped a number of times. Mazzie (15.2hh Argentine TB polo pony) was thrown over the back ramp through the gap at the top and broke her back, as well as had severe head trauma. She was still alive but in shock and completely out of it, so wouldn't have felt anything, and was pts at the scene about 45 minutes after the accident when the vet got there. My friend's horse remained in the trailer, and came out with minor cuts and bruises.

I still have a cry about what happened quite regularly, but I am coming to terms with losing her, and I cannot compare Genie as Mazzie was so very very different in every way. I tend to find the more I talk about it, the less it hurts, but I am fast running out of people to talk to!
 
The first horse i lost wasnt actually mine, she kept my old pony (who i still have) company and i looked after her. She was a 30 year old ex racehorse, had been treated horrendously at her last home, and had so many health problems as well as being a crib biter.
Aside form all that, she was one of the kindest gentlest horses you could ever come across. The day she was pts, it was a beautiful sunny day and when i went out to catch my boy she was lying in agony, it was so obvious she had colic. I knew from then her time was up, and was so sad to lose her but i remember holding her as the vet gave the injection and feeling so much relief, she was finally out of all the pain and suffering she had put up with for so many years.
I think it does get easier, you never forget them tho or stop thinking about them.
 
I am sorry for all of you that have lost horses / ponies, I have not read all the notes, but I do feel it depents on how you lost your horse, was it sudden and un-timely or did you have time to plan it. I thought I was ok but writing this I am now crying and I am 50 so should be able to control my feelings, I had my daughters first pony put down 18th Jan this year, I had owned Shandy a 10.1hh welsh x for 25 years, as my daughter is now 27, Shandy was not a young pony when I bought him he was 12-15 years old so we put his age at 37 ish. I also have a son how is 21 so I had owned Shandy for longer than I had, had my son, so real part of our family, he had never been out on loan I had looked after him every day.
<font color="red">I believe that you must make the right decision for them and not for your heart. </font> Shandy had lost the sight in one eye about 12 months earlier but he coped well with this, the sight in his right eye was getting poor.
Shandy was having more food than my horses but very slowly loosing weight. I made the HARDEST decision of my life, to have him put down before the end of January. I had to tell my children and other people that have known him for many years, although I did say to my daughter not to come and see him just to remember he as he was when she saw him at the end of last summer, (blubbing again )
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ok now
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Where was I ..... I made the arrangements it was booked for the 18th Jan
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that morning I took him out and took 100's of photos of him as I knew I would have no more. The mental pressure was huge, people saying he will put weight on come the summer, NO he wont I know my pony, the time is right to call it a day. When I got home and looked at the photos of his last day and compaired them to the one's only taken a few months earlier I knew that I had made the RIGHT decision FOR HIM and not for my heart. I did this while he still had a goodish quality of life. web page, scrole down. He is the pony in the picture called 'Old Friend' I will try to add more pics later. The day's after were hard but the weeks leading up to the 18th were harder. Now I can speak of him...crying agin .............sometimes. I hope this sort of helps. They are parts of our families and we tell them all our problems, we open our hearts to them and love them all, good ens and bad ens. Its what we do
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Try to remember the fun times.
 
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