Comments on Julie Goodnight On the Road: Patches the Pony-Dealing with the Death of an Equi...

Thankfully, this pony enjoyed a long & fruitful li...

2009-07-10T02:08:56.175-06:00

Thankfully, this pony enjoyed a long & fruitful life with a loving owner who chose to let her go rather than see her suffer. But Patches' story prompted Julie to question the wisdom of keeping old horses alive via extreme human intervention (i.e., special diets, nutritional suppliments, etc.) Personally, I think it depends on the individual and the williness of an owner to provide special care. As long as the animal feels relatively well and has a good appetite, I don't see the harm in helping a horse enjoy a happy retirement.

But then, I may be prejudiced because my husband & I have rescued three old horses. The first was a 29 y/o Saddlebred with a kind disposition that I used for a lesson horse until his muscle tone declined. He never lost his appetite or the sparkle in his eyes. But when he developed chronic diahrrhea at age 34, we put him down.

The two remaining seniors are still with us. We adopted a 25 y/o old Quarab from a rescue facility that soon became our little grandson's personal favorite. The other horse is an OTT (ID by lip tattoo) that someone abandoned on the road near our ranch. He was literally a walking skeleton when we found him. A year & 300 lbs later, he looks and feels like a different horse. Both these old fellows are quiet & calm with "been there, done that" attitudes. They're the perfect mounts for youngsters & beginners and well worth the expense of their special feed. SO! Keeping oldsters around has its rewards. The downside is knowing when to let them go. - MzLin

July 1, 2009. Today I had to put my Patches down. ...

2009-07-03T21:16:15.032-06:00

July 1, 2009.
Today I had to put my Patches down. She too was a wonderful shaggy pony whose life was full of children. Her job was of course, teaching them to ride. So tolerent and loving a pony. My best memory of her is remembering her following her children around... after the lesson. She just loved kids.
Thanks Patches.
Jimmy
Hamel, Minnesota

Patches sounds like a wonderful pony! If you read ...

2009-06-25T10:00:26.835-06:00

Patches sounds like a wonderful pony! If you read this Cheryl you have my condolences. You seem to have taken this very well from you comment because you knew it was time. You seem like a wonderful horse owner.

As for when it is time...I think that the old horses/ponys attitude counts for a lot. I worked at a barn with a 43 year old horse. His name was AJ and he was the best...he even had a lone molar left at that age. At 15.1hh he was a great height for a lesson horse, which he did for 25 years (which also speaks volumes of his attitude). We were happy to let him keep on going because his weight was good and so was his attitude. He would happily walk (or jog) out to his field every day. He would nicker for breakfast and dinner and eat every bite (however long it took) and then look for more food. With no real health issues we couldn't even think of putting him down. He was too happy and the only modifications we had to make were to wet his feed and give him alfalfa cubes instead of hay. One morning I went to turn him out and he was even fresher then usual, trotting and snorting like a 3 year old. He played for a bit, hung out in the sun, and then went down and never got up again.

Dear friends , Today I had to send Patches to that...

2009-06-24T19:29:53.705-06:00

Dear friends , Today I had to send Patches to that great pasture in the sky. How lucky we are to be able to take such good care of our animals that we can help them pass without pain or suffering. My good friend Julie and her husband and of course Jack helped do this for me. Julie as most of you know has a T.V. show that I work on. She wrote a lovely article about Patches who will be missed but there will be a huge bunch of sunflowers and blue flax growing over her on the farm--a fitting happy tribute to a great pony that was well loved not just by me but hundreds of kids. How lucky we were to have found each other. Life is good. Love Cheryl

Please give Cheryl my condolences. What a kind and...

2009-06-24T15:22:23.975-06:00

Please give Cheryl my condolences. What a kind and respectable way to send Patches to heaven.

Julie, We had two ponies (one of them my "life" h...

2009-06-24T14:51:10.842-06:00

Julie,

We had two ponies (one of them my "life" horse) that lived to 43. The amazing thing with them was other than normal care niether one needed anything special until the very end.

Ponies are amazing and I still have very fond memories of my driving pony Piper. I am sure that patches and Piper are now turned out together. Thanks for the post, brought back sweet memories of my best equine friend.

Glenn the Geek

I could barely get to the end reading through tear...

2009-06-24T12:56:03.728-06:00

I could barely get to the end reading through tears!! It's tough to let go! I have an old TB that I'm keeping going, probably more to spare me the pain of putting him down. You article has made me rethink this. Maybe it's time to let him go gracefully...with dignity.