Goodbye, Apricot!

Today we said goodbye to one of our newest friends, from the November 11 auction, sweet little Apricot pony.

 

Apricot came in from auction in very rough shape. Extremely emaciated with liquid stools, and blind in one eye, she was definitely in critical need. Her teeth aged her around 28 years old. She had great manners and was super friendly, showing she had obviously lived a good life. She carried a brand on her left hip, same as Sterling who also came in, and we suspect she was a working cattle pony who probably taught lots of kids how to work cattle.

 

When we walked into auction, she was the first one we saw that we knew needed us. Having recently lost our Bug Club pony Little Bo, who she resembled, she made us catch our breath and we knew she needed us. Deep down, we were kind of excited at the potential to give her a life here with our kids' program... but first she had to get through rehab. Once we knew her age and struggled with her rehab, we suspected she would spend the rest of her life here, so she was given a brand new halter just for her, and told she was in her final home. We didn't expect that time to be so short, but we're grateful for every minute we had.

 

Unfortunately she continued to struggle with liquid stools despite our best attempts, and approximately 3 weeks after intake, after her refeed period, she started going downhill. She started being picky about food and leaving it behind, and stopped being a spitfire with the other horses. On Dec 8, nearly one month after intake, she laid down and simply didn't have the energy to get back up. As the night progressed, her breathing became slower and deeper and she started having small seizures and she appeared very tired. Given her age and all the signs she was giving us, we decided it was better to let her go than force her to fight, and she was quietly euthanized.

 

Thank you to everyone who has supported this decision today, and understands it is not one we ever make lightly. We do own a sling, but given her age and the entire picture of what was happening, including her lack of any try, we did not feel it was appropriate to ask her to fight or put her through what it would take to get her on her feet. She was well past her critical ten days of refeed (we follow UC Davis in cases like hers) and we were working on the major problem - her liquid stools - before moving on to other things. Fluids weren't the problem - she was never dehydrated. Supplements and meds, even deworming, were dangerous with the malabsorption issue. We considered B12 to help her jump start muscle development and get her through the crisis, but with her body not absorbing any nutrients and all the obvious signs she was giving that her body was done, we decided it was right to say goodbye. We appreciate all the ideas, and hopefully you all trust that the decision we made was the right one. We don't necessarily share all of the ugly details, but the vet was delayed nearly two hours and in that time she went downhill fast to the point we didn't think they were going to make it. Luckily they did and she went to greener pastures very fast and quietly.

 

We can only hope she knew that she was loved, even if she wasn't here long, and that Little Bo greeted her in our sky herd and is happy to have a friend his size to wreak havoc in our #greenerpastures.