Jay

When we moved into our home a year ago we inherited Breezy and Jay.  Breezy is a gray quarter horse, a bit on the hefty size and pretty darn bossy.  Jay was a brown quarter horse with a black mane and tail and a cute white star on his forehead.  It was awesome to inherit two horses that were easy to ride.  Jay used to be a pack horse for many years and he and Breezy have lived here most of their life.  All of the other horses knew that Jay was in charge and he emitted a quiet strength.  He lead the pack with a cool head and a calm disposition.

Over the past 6 months we noticed that he was losing weight.  I bought him some special "old man" grain and more hay but he still kept losing weight.  I knew in my heart that it was probably getting to be very near the end of his life.  He was almost 31 years old, which for a horse is old.  When the vet came he said that we needed to have him put down before Christmas.  So I scheduled it for December 14th, one week ago.  It was a very nice and sunny day which was strange.  Darren borrowed the neighbor's excavator and dug an 8 by 8 by 8 foot hole.  My stomach was in knots all day.  Rebecca  came over to stand by my side.  We cut off his tail hair to make into bracelets later.  He kept looking back afterward like "what the heck?".  I felt so guilty.  So so guilty.  Like I was the Grim Reaper or something.  After all, how is it that I am to decide when he lives and when he dies?  But the vet said that it was better to do it before he started to suffer, and it was very obvious that his body was starting to shut down.  He was even leaving hay uneaten.  I had Rebecca lead him over to the hole because I just couldn't do it.  Looking into his big brown eyes and at his bluntly cut tail was just killing me.  

The vet gave me the option of leaving before he injected him but I stayed.  Darren, Gavin, Rebecca,  Tyler and I were with him when he fell to the ground and took his last breath.  I was sobbing.  It was terrible.  I am glad though that we were able to bury him on our property.  After all, he's been here a lot longer than we have.

Poor super skinny Jay on his last day.

To top off the day we put the vet to good use on Chuck.  So far we haven't needed the vet to come out at all this year.  Luckily he was here when I noticed a huge gash on Chuck's right front shoulder.  He had to be sedated and have the wound scrubbed out and a huge flap of skin cut off.  Not a good week for my horses.