>> Raven, what ever happened to the Back Behind the Barn Boys in your sign off?!
Wow...Trish, I haven't use that in over a year. You have a good memory. Well...here's the Back Behind the Barn Boys story. The boys were Banjo, Wizard, Hercules and Huginn. Banjo was 39 years old, when I made the decision to put him down. He lived a good long life. He died in 2001. Hercules was my little pony, I got him when he was almost one year old. When we moved to KY...in 1999, he foundered really bad. Since then..it was an up & down battle to keep him sound. Each winter he would get worse, over the two years of his life....he slowly went down hill. We tried everything. I think I kept him around, cuz he was Wizard's best little buddy. They loved each other so. And he was Wizard's eyes the last three years of Wizard's life. Winter of 2005...was very hard on Hercules...he spent most of it...laying down. January 2006, I made the decision to put him down. Wizard was on once-in-a-lifetime horse. He was my "heart horse" ...the love of my life. March of 2003, Wizard has a horrible adverse reaction to a IN strangles vaccine (bastard strangles). This caused a abscess behind his right eye...pressing up against his brain. I tried everything that I could to try to get rid of this abscess. I even took him all the way to the U of MI in Lansing in hopes that they could help. Nothing helped. They told me to put him down. I refused. I just couldn't give up on him...not that easy. So ...they sent me home and he was on massive antibotics for a long time in hope of shrinking the abscess. Wizard has always been a very high strung horse. And the abscess made him ..worse. he slowy had a mental meltdown. That first summer... I tried to keep riding him, but after the 3rd near death experience I had to retire him. This is when I started shopping for an Icelandic. Wizard was retired to the pasture. I excepted nothing from him...I just wanted him to have a happy life. Over the next few years...he slowly went insane. Everything scared him. The last winter, he just got worse. And Hercules as also getting worse. I put Hercules down and I thought...Wizard would be okay. Cuz...one of the things that really freaked Wizard out, was when he was worried about Hercules hanging out with Huginn. But...when Hercules was gone...Wizard totally lost it. He spent the last two week, running the fence line, not eating and he was very dangerous to be around. I never knew when I would accidentally get in his way and be trampled over. I was afraid of him and seeing him lived in this manner...made me ill. It was a horrible life, her never had a moment of peace. So...I made the hardest decision that I ever had to make in my life. I called the Vet. Huginn was alone for a few days...he wasn't eating...or drinking. He was just plain depressed from being alone. One night my hubby came in from the barn and said " you better get another horse before you have a vet bill on your hands, cuz Huginn is not adjusting". That's when we bought Dixie and brought her home to be Huginn's pasture pet. It was love at first sight for both of them. <;0] And that's the story. Raven Lucy & Molly, the Girl Doggies Huginn, the American Ice Pony Dixie Chic, the Barn Goddess Respect ALL Earthlings. We are all animals of this planet. We are all creatures.
