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Saying Goodbye To Sangria
I had no idea what the day would bring when we awoke. It was a hot morning, the horses were taken out of their stalls and put out to graze. Aiken's udder was quite swollen again and this evening had shrunk again. We stopped in at mom's before our walk and Berlica was getting ready to cook her double yolker egg.
I wonder if that had been fertilized and incubated would the twin chicks make it or would it be too cramped in the shell to allow them to develop. After the breakfast the truck was hooked to the stock trailer and Thalia taken out to Middle Grove. I drove the truck and trailer to the back field but there were no horses in sight. Thalia was taken out of the trailer and tied to it in the hopes when she neighed they would come running but all of the horses must have been out of ear shot.
I whistled and called but no answer. While waiting for the herd to arrive a bald eagle flew over us heading to the lake to fish. There were a few thistle blooms. They are such interesting flowers but awfully painful weeds to allow to live.
Mike called about then, he and Crew had taken the 4 wheeler to find the herd. He reported they were at the far Northwest corner of the winter pasture. I let Thalia go to find them.
The truck and trailer were taken back to the main gate. We used the 4 wheeler to get up the hill to the herd. When we got there Thalia had already arrived and was standing next to her dam. Sangria's melanoma had exploded and was now breaking through. She was losing weight, not wanting to move and was in obvious pain. That meant we needed to bring her home one last time. She was haltered and Crew led her slowly down the hill to the trailer. Tessa was haltered but when I started leading her, Blueberry's filly followed us instead of going back to her mama.
Mike took Tessa with the 4 wheeler while I walked behind to make sure the others didn't follow.
Tessa is impressive. She isn't full grown but is quite baroque.
Both mares were led into the trailer and I started the 22 mile drive home. I stopped at Casey's to fill up the truck and also check on Sangria.
When we arrived Sangria was taken into a stall, given grain, water and hay and the fan turned on. Only then was Tessa put in with Valerie.
A bit later I went to check on Sangria and she had laid down and made herself comfortable. Braelyn arrived to clean the foaling apartment and came in to say goodbye to her. Sangria was one of her favorites.
She really was a favorite here, she gave so many people a wonderful ride and also gave us some gorgeous foals. I was glad to see she wasn't sweating at all, just comfortable resting in the stall. My next job was to start moving bales. We had 6 bales left of last years first cutting. Two were put in the middle paddock and Evan was given a bale in his paddock. The other 3 were moved to the other side of the barn. Then Mark using the tractor and me using the skid steer starting moving bales off the field and stacking them inside. We worked for a little more than an hour but it was so hot outside Mark wanted to give the machines a break so went in for a late lunch and a siesta. We went back out at 4:00 pm and worked another hour getting most of the bales moved close to the barn but at 5:00 pm the skid steer warning light turned on so quit again. There were 3 bales left over by Joan's house so Mark used the tractor to move those but he wanted the golf cart driving in front to make sure he didn't run into anyone.
Mike came over with the big excavator to did Sangria's grave. She was given one last quiet comfortable day before we gave her her last rest. Mike's excavator is so huge that to dig the grave took about 10 minutes and to fill it in less time. Unfortunately Mike has had some practice digging graves for our precious horses lately and that's what comes after owning them for 25 or more years.
She really was a special mare.
