My Joker is gone😰

[Lollykay]

I guess it’s been a bad month everywhere

Joker was fine on Friday and gone by Saturday morning. I had given Joker a big dose of Flunixin Meglumine and DH started walking him. It wasn’t helping, so I called the clinic.

I was so grateful, the farm vet hurriedly got out of his pajamas and came. He was here 2-1/2 hours and things just kept going down hill. With all the health issues my Sweetie Boy carried around and being close to his 27th birthday, I made the decision to lay him to rest. He is on our farm, next to three of his buds.

I have now laid six horses to rest in my sixty plus years of owning horses - the Keepers don‘t leave when they come under my charge They have all been equally gut wrenching - this sort of thing never gets easier.

Rusty is now The Last Man Standing. He will be 28 in and has never been alone in the 26 years he has been with me. Even though I am too old for adding another horse, I will manage somehow because I will not leave Rusty alone. I have a lead on two horses that might meet my criteria but let me say, Rescues do NOT like to be the ones being interviewed. Trying to find a healthy 20-something gelding is like looking for that Needle In The Haystack.

Rusty is 28 going on 18. The vets and dentist who have worked on him all say he looks fantastic would never guess how old he is — well — except for the dental work he needed.

Rest In Peace my beloved Joker’s Reno Sun

 

[Trewsers]

So sorry to read this. Rest in peace good horse.xxx

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Oh beautiful old boy, you gave him a good life. Run free Joker.

 

[Jessey]

Oh no, I am so sorry to read that. I hope you are able to find Rusty a new friend soon x

 

[carthorse]

I'm so sorry, and it's little consolation to you to know Joker is at peace and you did all you could to do what was best for him. Look after yourself xx

 

[Skib]

I am so sorry. When an older horse dies, people tend to think it was natural. But the older the horse, the longer one has ridden them and loved them.

I dont know your circumstances but you dont sound too old to have a further horse. Or a further horse and later another. 8 - 12 years seems a rough figure to me for the working partnership.
I started riding 21 years ago when I was 60 and am currently hacking my third long-term (shared) mare.

 

[Sparky Lily]

So sorry to read this. It never gets any easier. Hugs x

 

[Frances144]

You did the right thing. It always hurts. He was loved. xx

 

[Huggy]

Oh I'm so sorry - it was the last best thing you could do for him. For all that, it doesn't hurt any less to let them go.

 

[Kite_Rider]

So sorry to read, run free Joker, x

 

[Mary Poppins]

I'm so sorry. Losing a horse is so very painful and no words can make it better. x

 

[diplomaticandtactful]

so sad. my boy is 27....we all just hope they are immortal

 

[Lollykay]

so sad. my boy is 27....we all just hope they are immortal

Isn’t that the truth. I filled out adoption papers at the rescue where the two horses I mentioned above are being cared for. I’ve gotten a handful of horses out of bad situations thru the years, but I have never gone this route. What a lot of red tape.

I truly get why they have to ask so many and such varied questions but submitting property/fence/barn pictures, and proof of residence is still frustrating. These two horses are a 4-1/2 hour drive in the car so I WILL go see them before committing to one of them, if my application is approved. Being 75 and living out of state, may disqualify me. Being 75 is also why I want an aged horse.

They are a long way away because finding healthy 20-something GELDINGS is not near as easy as finding mares. And somehow many mares in rescues seem to arrive in foal and nobody knows how they got that way.

I don’t expect a horse in its 20’s to be without issue, but there has to be someone out there, in their 20’s going on their teens, like Rusty is.