The New Adventures of Old Babe

For those that think horses should go to slaughter, let me tell you a story. It’s a true story which happened last night.

I’d recently let the mares out onto the pasture.  One mare was young and one mare was old. Last year we fertilized the pasture but then the drought struck. We kept the horses off this particular pasture for an extra month this year and the grass was chest high. This particular pasture is mostly a steep side hill but both of these mares had been in this pasture in the past, although only for a month the previous year because of the drought.

I went out to do chores last night and noticed that the younger mare was whinnying. She’d been joined at the hip with the older mare for a few months. I like keeping the young horses with the older horses so they learn (and to keep the old ones young at heart). I couldn’t find the older mare so I went in search of her. I heard her whinny but couldn’t see her as the sun was setting. I then discovered the path of destruction.

I can only presume that the old mare tripped on the grass and slid down the hill. The grass was flattened in a three foot swath down the hill. I followed the path and discovered the old mare at the bottom of the hill. I thought for sure that she had broken a leg. I avoided thinking that she could have possibly broken her neck. I checked her over and nothing seemed broken. She tried getting up but had managed to get her feet higher than her head.

For those that have experienced a cast horse, this is very similar (or at least I presume so as I’ve never had a cast horse). A horse with its feet higher than its head means that they can’t get up. Subsequently the blood moves to different locations and without getting the horse up relatively quickly, could die. I had no idea how long the old mare had been down (that will teach me not to check on all the horses immediately after getting off work).

By this time, the sun had already set and there was only a faint glow of daylight left. We made calls to two people who live close by who could help. Being a fairly new mom, I had no choice but to leave my husband and son in the house (to avoid being eaten alive by mosquitos). But I couldn’t roll the old mare over by myself (and at that particular moment, I wasn’t sure that there wasn’t more wrong with her).

When help arrived, they quickly assessed the situation and came to the same conclusion that she was stuck and couldn’t get her feet under because she was laying on an incline. The old mare never once panicked while we looked her over and assessed the situation. She never got upset or started breathing hard. She simply laid there waiting for us to figure out how to help her. She knew that we were there and never moved unless we were clear of her.

With the three of us, we were able to roll her over. She quickly went from a flat out laying position to a more curled up position (sorry, I can’t figure out how to explain it). After a very short time and with only a little bit of prodding, the old mare stood up on wobbly legs. Having arthritis and lying on her legs made her legs wobbly. I expect that they fell asleep and she was having difficulty feeling her feet. But she listened to all of us and did as we asked. Again she never panicked through the entire ordeal.

Knowing that she needed to get out of the pasture, we started the long process of walking her up the hill. We went the long route with the least amount of incline (hard to do in that pasture). Again, the old mare followed along (grabbing bites of grass to show that she was ok). She followed us and gave us 100% in getting her where she needed to go. As we waded through a patch of thistles, the old mare continued to follow where we told her to go. The young mare who’d been in the pasture flittered around us acting spooky (but avoiding us because we had flashlights). The entire time we worked on getting the old mare up and then out of the pasture, we did this in pitch dark. The moon was only a sliver.

Once we got the old mare out of the pasture, she continued to trust and follow us to where she needed to go. The young mare started to panic and whinnied until we put a different horse in with her. The old mare never made a peep. She was content to be by our side and go where we told her.  When we put her in a pen, we through some alfalfa and hay in and did a second check by flashlight to make sure she was ok. She happily munched on the food and ignored our poking and prodding.

Had this “adventure” happened with one of the younger horses, the outcome could have been much worse. Granted the younger horse would have been able to get up, but in a different situation a younger horse most likely would have panicked and possibly made the situation worse or hurt one of us.

And to make the situation more tricky, this old mare in particular is 100% blind.  So she not only had to go through that scary experience, she had to do it without any sight. Put yourself in her spot for a little bit and think about it.

So for those that think that the old and crippled horses should be slaughtered, maybe think about this story.  Remember how calm and trusting the old mare was and how we could do anything to her and she kept her cool. I don’t know of many young ones that would stay as calm.  The old teach the young and may she continue to teach me until her dying day.

You are a blessing and you humble me with your teachings Babe!