12/10/14 I happened to be in Dayton with
Jacob when Jayden called. She had gone out to do horse chores and found Winnie
in a bad state. She had tried to walk to the feeder, holding her back leg off
the ground, when she fell and wouldn’t get up. I called vet, Dr. Carly and drove
straight home. I prayed as I drove that if it could be fixed, she would recover and be fine, if it was bad, that it would be obvious and we wouldn’t have to watch her deteriorate. Mark still on crutches called Tony to
help. I am thankful that Tony waited with Jadyen until I got home. He tried to
get her on her feet because a horse laying down can mean trouble. When I first
saw Winnie, her back legs were extended straight out from her side and she was
laying down on her side. It did not look good. The vet prepared me over the
phone telling me she most likely will have to put her down. I was devastated to
hear that. I took Jake out with me and we petted Winnie’s head and neck a lot.
She would lay there and she looked at you when you spoke. She lifted her head a
few times. Something was really wrong and we did’nt know what. I suspected a
pinched nerve or something in her back that was causing her back legs not to
work. We sat with Winnie for a long time waiting on the vet. We put a blanket
over Winnie. We were all in carharrt’s and cold. It was middle 30’s. The vet wanted to get Winnie up and with some effort she
stood. She held her back leg and it looked as if it was dangling. The vet moved her leg and listened. She confirmed her leg was
broken. What? How? Where? Her femur near her hip was broken. The poor ol girl.
How, we won’t know, but it may be osteoporosis in an aged horse. We think Winnie to be around 27. I told the kids that I had prayed, and it was good that Winnie will not have to suffer. I had the kids stand with her, hug on her and we prayed together. We thanked God for the time we got to have her. I sent the kids inside and the vet put her down. It all happened so fast and she is gone. Tony was so helpful, he stayed and he took care of Winnie from there. She will be buried next to Dakota.
Winnie was an awesome kid horse. She was easy to ride
and handle. She never tried anything naughty. You could point her where you
wanted her to go and she would take you there whatever speed you wanted. It is
amazing to think how many kids rode her. She was a Hidden Acres camp horse for
years, then the Spillman’s owned her, then us. Just in our owning her, we have
had a ton of kids ride her. She is the Grandma babysitter horse we can put
anyone on. So many kids have gotten their first horse ride on Winnie. And of
course our boys learned how to ride on Winnie. Luke learned how to ride by
himself and was starting to trot. Jacob learned so much riding her. Her learned
how to lope without having to hold on and run poles and barrels. He
learned to do trail class. He won trophies on Winnie and did youth rodeos. He
thought of Winnie as his horse. He was very upset. This was a very sad day! WInnie will be missed! It is so hard to replace a good horse like her. I hoped the boys would have had more years with her.
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