Saturday, September 24, 2011

Horses can break hearts


Does, to paraphrase Natalie Keller Reinert from her eBook (soon to be in-print-book) The Head and not the Heart, the heart have no place in the horse business? Some days, it certainly feels that way.

Some of you may remember us meeting Little Miss Lacey a few months back. A feisty chestnut filly who frolicked around her mother Ursulita and tried to kick at her human visitors.

Lacey got caught up in a fence a few weeks ago. She tore her leg open to the bone and lost a lot of blood. For awhile, she looked as if she would mend, but her healing never quite progressed far or fast enough. Her pastern had fractured slightly, then it shifted forward and the ligaments and tendons wouldn't support the leg. Friday, I got an email from Devon that while they were operating on her leg to see if they could splint it, they found there was too much deterioration in the joint to repair it and she had to make the painful and realistic decision to put Lacey down.

It would be nice if we could turn off our hearts, it would make this easier. But I can't. I know Devon and Karen and Howie can't, either.

Perhaps there is no place for a heart in the business of horses, but that doesn't stop my heart from breaking at the loss of such a fine and lovely filly.

Lacey, we did not know you long, but you made a definite impression on all of us. You will be missed by many.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That's just awful - I am so sorry for their loss.