She is gone, it is over, but it is not finished

This evening at 7pm, we put down Phoenix, our rescue mare.

She is now, for the first time, probably since she was a foal,

without pain. That is something to breathe a sign of relief for,

truly, it is.

I want to thank my Uncle, Tony, and Sam Maynard of Maynard
Construction here in Lavalette for their help!

She is a dirty mess here today, but she laid down so much, keeping her clean

wasn't possible.

It is better on the other side, little mare,

I assure you, it must be.

The mare is gone. I will say, it was very peaceful, John says. He gave her a high dose of Bute to allow her to walk out a bit into the pasture, and he gave her treats the whole way, something I'd not given her before due to her starvation and hooves, and she grazed some, and it was really peaceful and she had enough Bute, that she seemed to feel okay on the walk - though he said it was a pitiful walk.

I hope I've learned something from her case, and I hope I've shared her story online enough that it moves some people to action to try to help horses in such need.

http://www.deviantart.com/ by plutoplusone.com

I want to take this time to let people know that there are many other horses like her out there.

If you breed horses or enjoy them by having personal riding horses, please understand you should feel obligated to do rescue when you can afford to.

I feel it is only the right thing to do. Give something back to the creatures that give you so much.

Right now, the horse market is beyond down. Horses aren't selling and the few that do go for a pittance, by and large. There are no slaughter facilities in America anymore, but this simply means the horses are shipped into Mexico and Canada. It is an inhumane trip and there is much less regulation over the borders US. The auction pens are full of horses and kill buyers standing by to happily bid and take the unwanted to a cruel death.

Horses are so cheap now, anyone can "get themselves" one, two or three. That is what happened with this mare. The people who had her could not feed themselves, and yet they felt they should get 'em a horse. 10 years ago, when horse prices were higher, neglect and abuse was somewhat less amuck.

Please, if you have the facilities, take in a rescue horse once you know how to rehab one, how to refeed one. If you love horses and can't afford to take in a rescue or do not have room, consider donating to a rescue to help them continue to help the unwanted because, I assure you, they are everywhere.