McHaney Acres... Loving life as it comes: The story of a dead horse

What does a dead horse look like? This morning it was a miserable sight. Shithead was down in the pasture. He was laying in his back with his rear legs sticky straight up, his belly up and his front legs flopped over to the side laying on the ground and his head sticking out with his tongue hanging out. I panicked, freaked, spazzed, something. I called Harold, no answer, I called my mom (poor grandma, I kinda freaked her out too), and while I was on the phone his back legs were twitching and Goliath and Cappy were licking them. But, sadly, I have seen horses go down before and I know that twitching is normal. And then I saw him pick up his head. I hang up the phone and fly outside. He is still breathing but it seemed labored. I called Harold again, he was on his way home, I called the vet, she is on the way out. I sat out there for a half hour with him not sure what to do. He would try to get up but it didn't seem like he really put much effort into it. I told Shithead that he was loved to the end, and please tell Aries that I miss him. And then out of the blue, he started kicking his legs out, I thought he just was trying to fight the inevitable, but he got up! And then he took a leak, went to the hay feeder grabbed a mouthful of hay and stared at me.

So Dr. Anne got out here, and Shithead seemed fine. His heartrate was faster than normal but other than that, she was clueless. She said he could have seizured, he could have been kick by one of the other horses and the pain was too much to get up right away, or he went to roll and got stuck in the snow. She gave him a shot of Banamine for pain and in case he was a bit colicky.

So, this is what a dead horse looks like today...

I felt like a fool for reacting the way I did to have him be fine. But I was honestly scared for him and was afraid that he was suffering. Thank God Dr. Anne didn't drive any faster, and got here sooner because she would have just given him the sleepy shot. Maybe he is my little Christmas miracle. Or maybe he just wasn't ready to be done be loved. Whatever it is, hopefully he is like a cat and has nine lives.

So, anyway, the boys got there Christmas dinner tonight. They all had some senior feed, sweet feed, and beet pulp soaked in warm water and top dressed with carrots. They were in heaven. That is Shithead's normal dinner minus the carrots, but the other boys really like their treat