Goodbye Ransom

Poor Ransom. He was only at the Sanctuary for about two months. I didn't get a chance to really know him. He was a quiet little gelding but was in so much pain long before he came to us. Oddly enough, our farrier knew Ransom long  before we knew him. When I posted pictures of the herd on Facebook, our farrier said she'd trimmed Ransom two years ago and that he'd foundered long before that.


Sadly, by the time we got Ransom, the laminitis had gotten much more severe. He couldn't very far without being in extreme pain. He spent most of his time trying to find a soft place in the dry lot or hanging out in the pasture. He wasn't comfortable with the big herd and hung out with his best friend Diavlo or by himself.


I wish we could have done more. Or could have helped sooner. But we have to say no to so many horses and I worry about those that we say no to, what happens to them. At least we were able to say yes to Ransom. Our farrier had come out to trim him but said she couldn't do much without xrays. Sadly, we took Ransom up for xrays last Monday, November 4th knowing that they wouldn't be good.


Our amazing farrier went with to help haul horses and get an immediate answer when we saw the xrays. Truthfully, I didn't know what I was looking at other than a very painful foot. Ransom's bones had rotated and were very close to the sole of his foot. He was very close to walking on his bone.


We confirmed the xrays with our vet. Because we already had Lace's euthanasia scheduled, we'd wanted to get the xrays done on the same day and say goodbye to Ransom if the xrays showed what we were fearing. I didn't want to haul Ransom a second time in the trailer if his feet hurt as bad as I suspected. There would be times that I would walk out and he would simply stand (or be lying down), and groan in pain. I didn't think any extra traveling would be good on him. I wanted to keep his pain to a minimum.


So we said goodbye to Ransom after only two very short months. I didn't get to know him like I'd wanted. It seems unfair that he didn't get to spend more time at the Sanctuary but he was surrounded by his herd until the very end.


We made the decision to put both Ransom and Lace down in November because winter is right around the corner. With the issues facing euthanasia, we wanted to make sure they could be buried on our family land rather than going through other methods of euthanasia and removal that would cost even more than what we can afford. I am glad we have such devoted family to help with the Sanctuary.


Losing Ransom and Lace has been a hard blow to the Sanctuary. Mayhem and Jessie are not adjusting as well because they both relied on Lace. We've been watching them and Diavlo closely to make sure they don't drop too much weight and/or colic. It's always the ones left behind that we have to worry about.


Losing a horse, no matter how long they've been at the Sanctuary, be it two months, two years, or twenty years is always difficult.


God speed  Ransom. Please forgive me and I hope we meet again some day.

Ransom checking out the turned over water tank

Ransom before we brought him to the Sanctuary