First, a correction on the situation with the horse yesterday. I was misinformed. The vet that the girl took the horse to said it was bad off, and she should leave the horse at the vet's office, and if she insisted on taking him somewhere, to take him to Fort Collins. She ignored that advice and brought him back to the barns, to put him in a stall that was being rained into through the barn door, and leave him alone all night.
The next day, after he left the barn, she took him back to the vet's, where the vet recommended euthanasia. So, she hauled him back to the barn, and shot him. Which would be fine, except for the fact that she didn't manage the job on the first shot, and let the poor horse bleed and suffer for thirty minutes before she tried again.
And, this part is hearsay, but I understand that the colic was caused by riding the horse until he was extremely hot, in the cold weather, and putting him away wet. A definite recommendation for cooling your horse out before putting them away.
The other thing is a lot happier. I got my last Lit paper back today, the one that I really wasn't happy with because I made the mistake of putting it off until the last minute.
On the last page is a note of "Wow! Excellent!"
I got a hundred on it.
It would be really easy now for me to get cocky about things!
Farmgirl, First off, it's great to hear your results on the Lit paper. Sometimes a good grade (or other result) is a pleasant surprise, given what we sometimes percieve our efforts to be.
ReplyDeleteNow, my thoughts on the horse...
That old saying about being rode hard and put up wet... I'd previously heard that was a euphamism for being underappreciated, but here we see just how bad it is. I'm not even currently riding and I agree about cooling a horse down.
On shooting a horse, I recall my Daddy told me if you don't do it right, it's worse than the reason you had to in the first place. Then you have to do it again. The time I had to have a horse put down (she broke her back), I had the vet give her that shot... $40 farm call plus $50 for the backhoe, but that don't compare to losing a friend. She went out a lot easier that way though... just went to sleep. But, if a horse must be shot, I understand the U.S. Cavalry regulations involved drawing an X across the horse's forehead... ears to eyes. They'd put the .45 slug right in the intersection. Thing is, to do it right, you have to steady your emotions and nerves. I'm not agreeing with her, but that may be why it took her half an hour to do it. Seems to me it would've been bad on either of them, while worse on the horse. That stall she put him in, though... seems to me that'd be a no-brainer that you'd put the horse in a better stall, but it's also a no-brainer that the horse should've been given a lot better care to begin with. So ignorance and apathy cost a horse his life. She had a choice of whether to be there or not. The horse didn't have that choice. He deserved a lot better.
I don't know what else to say.
mustanger
My sentiments are much the same as Mustanger's.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the Lit Paper grade. Just try not to be so rushed next time, ok?
Now, I'm gonna get judgemental, based on 2nd hand info and 2nd hand hearsay. That immature, cowardly, stupid, bitch doesn't deserve to own a sea monkey, much less a living, breathing animal.
When we domesticated animals such as the horse and the dog, we as humans made a pact with their species to provide basic care for them. She failed in a spectacular way to provide that care. All the crocodile tears she may be shedding NOW don't do that horse a damn bit of good. Do not be fooled by any emotion she may be showing.
I do not know what sanctions are available to the instructors of your program, but I know what I wish could be done. I wish that she had to dig the grave for that horse by hand. And spend the rest of this semester and all next semester hand copying a manual of basic equine health management. Because kicking her out of the program would teach her NOTHING. She should not be allowed to own another horse until she can answer any question posed to her by any member of the faculty about caring for a sick horse.
That previous comment may seem harsh to some, but that's the only way I can see to get through the ignorance and lack of concern that girl had for the horse under her control.
ReplyDeletePlease tell me if you have a better way to impress upon her that SHE is responsible for the death of that horse. And to make sure she never kills another horse due to lack of caring or knowledge.
Holly, I wholeheartedly agree with you. I just didn't know, out of not being in the habit, how to put it into such graphic, livid, stark terms. No, what you said... that's not harsh. What that "girl" did to that horse was harsh and we don't know how far back her careless thoughtlessness goes. What would you want to bet they just kick her out *if* they do anything?
ReplyDeleteThe Bible says "man shall have dominion". I believe with that dominion comes the responsibility and the necessity to know how to manage it. With that dominion comes a whole lot to care about. That pact we made with horses and dogs... they're not just our resources- slaves to many- they're our friends and partners. As such, we owe them for enriching our lives if not for their help. Excuse me if I seem overly sentimental.
I recall reading the preface to Smoky. Will James said to the effect that "I've always sized up a man by the horse he rode; a good horse generally packs a good rider and I've always steared clear of the man who had no thought or liking for his horse because no good would come of the meeting."
mustanger... again.
Mustanger, and FarmGirl, well, I love my dawgs, anyone who has met me in meat space or read my blog knows that. I haven't had the luck to own a horse since adolescense, but I still love them and miss riding.
ReplyDeleteI hate to see any animal mistreated, even cats. A person who will mistreat an animal, IMHO, will mistreat a human.
Infact, and y'all may already know this, but the torture of animals is one thrid of the Classic triad profilers look for in the background of serial killers. Usually they pick small animals because they are more accessible. The other 2/3 are bedwetting and firesetting. Anyhoo....
Mustanger, I always look forward to your comments and it's comforting that we are of a mind on this subject.
"A person who will mistreat an animal, IMHO, will mistreat a human."
ReplyDeleteSeems to me if somebody don't care any more than that, one life isn't worth much more than the other.
"Infact, and y'all may already know this, but the torture of animals is one thrid of the Classic triad profilers look for in the background of serial killers. Usually they pick small animals because they are more accessible."
I'd heard about that... I first read of it as a teenager, when I was constantly reading Louis L'Amour. He brought that up in one of his memoirs and said many times those sociopaths will torture and kill small animals in front of their human victims as a means of intimidation. From that I draw a picture of a sociopath also being a coward scared to pick on someone their own size.
I wonder if tearing a horse down, like we've been talking about just happened, plays into that. They may find more power in it.
"The other 2/3 are bedwetting and firesetting. Anyhoo...."
I guess that illustrates more of it.
"Mustanger, I always look forward to your comments and it's comforting that we are of a mind on this subject."
Well, Holly, I tend to look forward to your's as well. But you generally just see mine when I know how to say what I'm thinking and that's not all the time. I see you're a blogger... I read these blogs and sometimes I wonder why I don't have one too, but I feel like I'd mostly be ranting about stuff I read here and at LawDog's and a couple of other places. I already do that and I'm usually afraid it'll get old fast. But then, the likemindedness you mentioned... in a world where most folks think "it's not my problem", that can be a comfort from both sides.
mustanger
PS Glad to hear the paper went well!
ReplyDeleteHolly W
Oh cripes....posted about the horse to the wrong issue......sorry!
ReplyDeleteHolly W
oh my.
ReplyDelete"The vet that the girl took the horse to said it was bad off, and she should leave the horse at the vet's office, and if she insisted on taking him somewhere, to take him to Fort Collins."
so who did she really think she was? Why even GO to a vet if you are going to ignore his educated and probably experienced opinion? Don't you go because he knows things you don't???
but to me the worst was this....
"and leave him alone all night."
huh? You have a horse that has been diagnosed with colic, colic bad enough the vet wants him to stay at the clinic and you leave him alone????
She gets no sympathy from me for putting herself in a position where a horse needed to be destroyed and it was difficult for her. Way too many opportunities to get this fixed, or do it right, or something else before it came to this.
As both the other Holly and Mustanger pointed out, when we acquire animals that need our care, we also take on the responsibility to actually CARE for them.....and that includes the final mercy.
It should have been mercy....not 30 minutes before mercy got there.
Holly W
reposted to the correct issue of your blog......having a senior moment.
and please tell me this was not a school owned horse or a client horse.
ReplyDeleteHolly W