A life too short

It is with deep sadness that I write this post. Two weeks ago on July 11th I had to put Miss Izzy down.

The end of June was her first two weekend, back to back shows. Because she's a young horse, she had some well deserved time off. She had done her best and I was and still am, quite pleased with Izzy's performance.

When I turned her out on Tuesday night, She had gone directly to the water trough. When her other two friends came out and went to the trough, she went over to a different part of the pasture and started to eat the dirt. She was crunching at it as if eating ice. I thought it as a bit strange and figured tomorrow I would get some of her manure and test her for sand in the gut. To do this,  you put some of the manure in a bucket of water. The manure will break up and part of it will float, but if there is any sand, it will sink to the bottom. When you pour the water out, you will have your answer.

The next day she was seen laying down out in the pasture. It was strange for her so I borrowed some medication, injectible, from my friend and gave her a good dose to make her comfortable. It seemed to help and things settled down for a while. Later she was standing by the water trough drinking and splashing in the water incessantly. Her breathing was rapid as if she had been running and she was sweating. I brought her up front and rinsed her off to cool her down and clean the dirt off her, then moved her to the round pen where she could be watched more closely.

Izzy seemed to relax some but she laid down again and although she wasn't rolling and thrashing at first, she started to so she was made to get up. Things started to really go downhill. As she tried to stand, she was a little wobbly on her legs and went back down. She tried to stand again and this time couldn't straighten her front left leg. She stayed on her knees for a few moments until she could finally straighten the leg and stand up.

A call was made to the vet and it was decided to take her in. The trailer was hitched, she was loaded and away we go. Before leaving, she was given another dose of medication, IV this time. Stopping for gas, I checked on her and there was a trickle of blood from her neck where the needle had gone in. She looked ok otherwise, a little sweaty and still a bit stressed as if asking what was happening.

When we arrived at the vet clinic things weren't any better. After unloading her and trying to take her inside, it was as if now Izzy couldn't bend her front legs. She was walking very strangely and the vets seemed to think it was a reaction to the medication.

Inside the clinic she was loaded into the stocks to be assessed. She had blood drawn, temperature taken (normal), heart rate (a bit fast), gut sounds? (none), palpated from behind- lots of manure coming out although she hadn't pooped in a while and a tube went up the nose into the stomach to drain things. There was a bucket and half of water that came out. The skin pinch test showed she was also dehydrated and her gums were pink with good capillary refill.

The initial blood tests came back and the numbers for what is normal being 2, Izzy was at 17.5 which indicated she had likely twisted her intestine somewhere. They tapped the stomach and at first couldn't get anything so they used a longer needle. When they finally got a few drops, enough to test, her results? The test goes up to 20, but Izzy's numbers didn't even register. It kept coming back as Error. She was off the charts.

Surgery was the only answer and after some serious consideration on my part, I decided to go ahead with it to a degree. I was hesitant to do it and when they checked her gums again and ran another test, the outlook was turning grim. Her gums had gotten a darker pink and the tests showed her kidneys were starting to fail. IF she made it thru surgery, recovery would be more difficult and drawn out.

The cost of surgery- by the time she walked out the door it would easily be in the $8k-$10k range. Once a horse colics, they are prone to doing it again in the next 60-90 days. Due to the meds, they are also prone to ulcers which are also not cheap to treat. With all things considered, the only option- and the best one for Izzy, was to put her down and end her suffering.

You could see it in her eyes that she was hurting and confused. They gave me some time alone with her and I held her head, braided part of her thick mane and told her everything would soon be okay. She wouldn't be hurting anymore, she would simply lay down on the grass and go to sleep. She would be in Heaven soon where there are a lot of great horses and an endless supply of treats. I told her how much I loved her and that I promise to never, ever forget her.

I have tons of photos of her and I'm looking forward to putting them all together in a book. The book of Izzy the Wonder Pony. She was a great pony with a lot of heart and would always try her best. She was very much loved and quite fortunate. Izzy never fell into the wrong hands, never had a bad day and was always waiting there at the gate for me with a whinny as if to ask "What are we doing today?" I was lucky to have had her for the best year of our lives. She went out on top and truly lived the life of a spoiled Princess pony.

RIP my beautiful girl  💖 💕