RIP Dancer's Echo
Jun. 22nd, 2022 02:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blueeowynThe day I have been dreading at some level for 26+ years arrived. I've been actively dreading it for 5 weeks. Echo has dealt with so many physical challenges over the years and finally had one we couldn't overcome. It was time. I am the entire reason that she existed in the first place and I made the call to end her life. It is the last gift I can give her and her mother. A peaceful death before she is in another major crisis (in pain and/or scared). These last few weeks she has been happy, playful, insistent on treats. It has been a wonderful yet painful few weeks but it was time.
This morning Java drove me up there and I just hung out with her, offering scritches (she had VERY itchy cheeks) and treats. Then when it was close to the appointed time, I took her out to let her hand graze and eat some apple. She felt good enough to jig her way out of the barn and during some of her circling while grazing there was a brief trot. I told her how much I loved her and how sorry I was for all of her problems and how wonderful and good she was. The vet was very good, he gave her a mild tranq to keep her calmer and then when we were all ready gave the double injection. She stayed up longer than I expected but not long at all (and seemed mostly unconcious when she went down). Stubborn girl's heart took a little while to catch up but she was at peace and had peppermints while the drugs were going in.
We had gone to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical last night (tickets bought several months ago) and one of the lines really hit me. "It is hard to say goodbye but harder to not be able to." I wasn't able to say goodbye to Dancer really but I had a few weeks of loving on Echo and giving her treats and over an hour today to really say my final goodbyes.
It is hard on me and hard on the farm. She was conceived there, she was born there, and she died there. They felt horrible when they found out that her sire threw OCD babies (they found out about a month before Echo was born) and have worked with me and her for so many years trying to get her healthy and sound.
In 1994 my Mom and I decided to breed my first horse, Dancer (registered name Dancing Lorraine). We took time off of work to look at stallions (she told her boss she was choosing the father of her grandchild). We both went through the local free horse magazine stallion issue and found the ones we liked and visited a bunch of them. We bred Dancer that spring, she lost it, and bred her back the following spring. Echo (registered name T. Dancer's Echo) is the result of that. She was born in May 1996 and was a tiny baby. When the vet came to check her the next morning he commmented on how small she was all curled up in the stall but also called her lively as she cantered around the stall.
She started having problems as a yearling (OCD in 3 joints) but was such a sweet and willing horse. She tolerated a year in the stall and came out not too stupid. Time went by and because Dancer was retired when Echo was born, I hadn't ridden and we all thought that green horse and out of shape, never worked a green horse was a bad combination. Various people worked with her and rode her and I got to be a support crew and proud owner. Xpioti was one of the longer riders and I am still kicking myself for not stopping it sooner (Echo kept having some lameness and some balkiness which was probably also pain). Eventually, after multiple injuries and healing we got her sound and reasonably happy and were hoping to move forward, then in November 2014 she degloved herself.
Her willing attitude really shone in this injury. There she is, at the hospital, tranqued (they had to the surgery with her awake, full anesthesia would have killed her), they have a cast on the leg and her muscles are all sorts of unhappy and someone she never met before asks her to walk and she looks at the person like "You are kidding right?" "Come on Echo" "Um, two-legger, leg in cast, muscles not working" "Come on Echo" "OK, fine" and she followed the new person to the best of her ability (dragging the bad leg and leaving gouges in the cement floor). She was so tolerant of the work they did there and the massive rehab type work after she got home. She wasn't happy about it but she was good. However, the injury was fairly significant and while she hasn't had pain from it, it did create a mechanical issue and she was 18 at the time so she was formally retired.
A couple of years later (maybe 2016?) she started going on food strikes and lost a lot of weight. Moving her into the main barn helped but she never regained it. We would try different feeds, supplements, etc. and while some would get her interest briefly she still went on the occasional feed strike. Part of the problem is that due to the amount of medication she has had over the years, she is VERY distrustful of changes in the feed (even between batches). She was happy and mostly OK but skinny for a few years, then this spring, she started losing weight again. She was eating well but getting skinnier and skinnier. She has burned almost all of her fat and a lot of her muscle. While we were on the trip to Ohio, I realized that soon she would get to the point that she would lie down and maybe not get up. The idea of her stuck and in pain drove me crazy and I decided (at 2:00am) that we would put her down. Java suggested that I think about it for a day before calling the farm. I did, then I made one of the more painful phonecalls. The farm and I worked to find a day when we could put her down that worked for everyone involved. Knowing it has been coming has been both a blessing and a curse. I've had a couple of weeks to really spoil her (after getting over Covid) but the "when" and then the "5 days, 4 days, 3 days" was wearing.
Some of the earlier posts about Echo
June 2004 - RIP Dancer - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/178381.html
August 2005 - riding Echo - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/513709.html
October 2005 - shoulder and suspensory - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/525512.html
June 2008 - floating fetlock chip found - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/690870.html
May 2008 - dealing with lameness - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/679177.html
December 2010 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/388195.html
Working with her March 2011 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/393445.html
Post about the final injury November 2014 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/862606.html
When we decided to stop trying to turn her into a riding horse August 2015- https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/875644.html
Echo at 1 day -
6 weeks -
2 1/2 -
This morning Java drove me up there and I just hung out with her, offering scritches (she had VERY itchy cheeks) and treats. Then when it was close to the appointed time, I took her out to let her hand graze and eat some apple. She felt good enough to jig her way out of the barn and during some of her circling while grazing there was a brief trot. I told her how much I loved her and how sorry I was for all of her problems and how wonderful and good she was. The vet was very good, he gave her a mild tranq to keep her calmer and then when we were all ready gave the double injection. She stayed up longer than I expected but not long at all (and seemed mostly unconcious when she went down). Stubborn girl's heart took a little while to catch up but she was at peace and had peppermints while the drugs were going in.
We had gone to see Beautiful: The Carole King Musical last night (tickets bought several months ago) and one of the lines really hit me. "It is hard to say goodbye but harder to not be able to." I wasn't able to say goodbye to Dancer really but I had a few weeks of loving on Echo and giving her treats and over an hour today to really say my final goodbyes.
It is hard on me and hard on the farm. She was conceived there, she was born there, and she died there. They felt horrible when they found out that her sire threw OCD babies (they found out about a month before Echo was born) and have worked with me and her for so many years trying to get her healthy and sound.
In 1994 my Mom and I decided to breed my first horse, Dancer (registered name Dancing Lorraine). We took time off of work to look at stallions (she told her boss she was choosing the father of her grandchild). We both went through the local free horse magazine stallion issue and found the ones we liked and visited a bunch of them. We bred Dancer that spring, she lost it, and bred her back the following spring. Echo (registered name T. Dancer's Echo) is the result of that. She was born in May 1996 and was a tiny baby. When the vet came to check her the next morning he commmented on how small she was all curled up in the stall but also called her lively as she cantered around the stall.
She started having problems as a yearling (OCD in 3 joints) but was such a sweet and willing horse. She tolerated a year in the stall and came out not too stupid. Time went by and because Dancer was retired when Echo was born, I hadn't ridden and we all thought that green horse and out of shape, never worked a green horse was a bad combination. Various people worked with her and rode her and I got to be a support crew and proud owner. Xpioti was one of the longer riders and I am still kicking myself for not stopping it sooner (Echo kept having some lameness and some balkiness which was probably also pain). Eventually, after multiple injuries and healing we got her sound and reasonably happy and were hoping to move forward, then in November 2014 she degloved herself.
Her willing attitude really shone in this injury. There she is, at the hospital, tranqued (they had to the surgery with her awake, full anesthesia would have killed her), they have a cast on the leg and her muscles are all sorts of unhappy and someone she never met before asks her to walk and she looks at the person like "You are kidding right?" "Come on Echo" "Um, two-legger, leg in cast, muscles not working" "Come on Echo" "OK, fine" and she followed the new person to the best of her ability (dragging the bad leg and leaving gouges in the cement floor). She was so tolerant of the work they did there and the massive rehab type work after she got home. She wasn't happy about it but she was good. However, the injury was fairly significant and while she hasn't had pain from it, it did create a mechanical issue and she was 18 at the time so she was formally retired.
A couple of years later (maybe 2016?) she started going on food strikes and lost a lot of weight. Moving her into the main barn helped but she never regained it. We would try different feeds, supplements, etc. and while some would get her interest briefly she still went on the occasional feed strike. Part of the problem is that due to the amount of medication she has had over the years, she is VERY distrustful of changes in the feed (even between batches). She was happy and mostly OK but skinny for a few years, then this spring, she started losing weight again. She was eating well but getting skinnier and skinnier. She has burned almost all of her fat and a lot of her muscle. While we were on the trip to Ohio, I realized that soon she would get to the point that she would lie down and maybe not get up. The idea of her stuck and in pain drove me crazy and I decided (at 2:00am) that we would put her down. Java suggested that I think about it for a day before calling the farm. I did, then I made one of the more painful phonecalls. The farm and I worked to find a day when we could put her down that worked for everyone involved. Knowing it has been coming has been both a blessing and a curse. I've had a couple of weeks to really spoil her (after getting over Covid) but the "when" and then the "5 days, 4 days, 3 days" was wearing.
Some of the earlier posts about Echo
June 2004 - RIP Dancer - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/178381.html
August 2005 - riding Echo - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/513709.html
October 2005 - shoulder and suspensory - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/525512.html
June 2008 - floating fetlock chip found - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/690870.html
May 2008 - dealing with lameness - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/679177.html
December 2010 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/388195.html
Working with her March 2011 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/393445.html
Post about the final injury November 2014 - https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/862606.html
When we decided to stop trying to turn her into a riding horse August 2015- https://blueeowyn.dreamwidth.org/875644.html
Echo at 1 day -
6 weeks -
2 1/2 -
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 02:54 am (UTC)OCD?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 11:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 12:29 pm (UTC)oh gracious. that sounds especially bad for a horse
no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 12:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-23 11:12 am (UTC)