How To Kill Your Horse

Fri Jul 22, 2005

Had a semi-lovely afternoon at the barn, fussing over Quzqo, making him the Ultimate Purdy Boy for the horse show at the barn tomorrow...he was pretty obnoxious, fussing and wiggling and pawing and intent on goobering up the back of my head (that's a strange sensation, a sloppy moist horse muzzle pressing down on your head as you're bent over trimming fetlocks) (think I'd better take a shower and wash my hair tonight)

While I was fussing over Himself, one of the boarders was saddling up her horse across the arena...he's a huge ex-racehorse named "Tab" for short. They arrived at the barn last fall, and she'd been working with the barn's trainer, taking riding lessons, and having the trainer work on with the horse. The woman has always been a...well.....abrasive bitch. I remember the first time I saw her, she came STORMING into the barn cussing a blue streak because the barn workers had put her horse out in the pasture! And her mousy husband trailing behind her ten feet behind (a safe distance?), not saying a word. Oh, poor thing, she had to walk out to the pasture and get her horse! Those "goddamned assholes" put him outside!

That horse spent the entire winter in his stall, coming out only when she showed up to ride him. When spring and summer came, she allowed "Tab" to go out, but ONLY at night, he still had to spend the days inside. I remember one lesson with the trainer, when Deb, the trainer, was riding the horse, he was nice and rounded, nice energetic trot, did what he was asked. When his owner rode him, his back was hollowed, his head was up, and she was sawing on the reins like she was rowing a boat. I believe the horse bucked her off shortly after, LOL, but she got back on and tormented the beast the rest of the evening.

Well, as I mentioned, she was saddling up Tab, I didn't pay her much notice, I was too busy searching for stray whiskers on Quzqo's nostrils (love those purple plastic nose shavers!!)...a few minutes passed, suddently Tab and his rider came GALLOPING into the barn FLYING down the length of the indoor arena and nearly slamming into the far wall! Scared the shit out of Quzqo, I'm lucky my feet were far enough away or he would have stomped me for sure! She spun around and trotted Tab back outside...I couldn't figure WHAT she was doing...if she wanted to practice galloping, the entire outdoor arena was free, and it's a lot bigger than the indoor, and not filled with tractors, sawdust trailers, and temporary stalls (for the horse show). A few minutes later they came back, GALLOPING FULL BORE down the length of the arena...turned around (I couldn't see because of the temporary stalls), and trotted back out. I was getting pretty annoyed...what an obnoxious bitch!

She came back into the barn, dismounted, and led Tab over to the counter by the door where the phone is...about 10 feet from where I had Quzqo tied...Tab was fussing and wiggling and dancing and pawing, he swung his rear around, I quickly untied Quzqo and backed him away, just missing being smacked by a huge TB ass. She smacked him in the shoulder and told him to
"focus"...gave up on trying to make a call, and led the horse back into the arena, and I assume untacked him...about 10 minutes later she was stomping around the arena, dragging Tab behind her...

I went outside to give Quzqo a sponge bath /touch-up with the whitening shampoo...he'd graze while I scrubbed those stubborn spots (O, I miss my brown horse!!)(but wouldn't trade Quzqo for one!)...came back in, was doing something else, I heard people talking, something about "colic" and "did anybody call the owner?" and "she's here"...they were trying to contact the vet, but couldn't for some reason (I think it was long distance and the kid doing the dialing didn't know about dialing a "1" first)...eventually here came Tab and his owner, dragging him along...oh, shit...Tab is colicing???

My friend with the Paint mare was there by then, and she confirmed it...you could see just the way he was moving....his stomach was tucked up, back hollowed, head up, moving stiffly...the woman started TROTTING him around...both my friend and I were kind of incredulous at THAT...I've dealt with enough colicy Arabians where I used to board and we NEVER trotted them, only walked them (and walked them and walked them and walked them), gave them a shot of Banamine, walk 'em til you get a fart and a poop. But the owner (I don't know her name, had no wish to learn it) was dragging that horse at a FAST walk, then a TROT, then a fast walk, then trotting...eventually one of the barn boys was following them with a rod with a rag tied at the end, shooing the horse along, keeping him moving. I had to take Quzqo back outside for more touch ups, when we came back inside, Tab was down...five people were yelling at him, hitting him, whipping him, dragging on his face...eventually they DID get him up, and were back
dragging him, hitting him on the butt with the rod...more than once his hindquarters started to buckle but they yanked and beat at him to keep him moving.

Had to take Quzqo outside to get his hooves dry so we could shave his pasterns, took him out back and walked past Tab's trailer...they had custom lettering on the front, "The Tabulator...Ex-Racehorse"...bitterly I thought they might have to change that to "The Tabulator, Ex-horse".

By the time we got back, that poor horse was soaking wet from nose to tail in sweat..."He's not used to the heat!" I heard the bitch owner say...(it'd been in the upper 70's today)...they never did get ahold of the regular barn vet, but luckily were able to get ahold of another vet whose office was just a few miles from the barn. By the time she showed up, Tab had fallen down again, and there was nothing they could do to get him up. The vet checked what she could, and conferred with the owner, who was crying by now (probably angry she'll have to change the lettering on her horse trailer)...I took Quzqo back outside (just couldn't get those brown spots to
clean up!) for more sponge-bath, but we were right outside the barn door, and I saw them shepherding the owner away...oh, shit.

After 5 minutes or so, I brought Quzqo back in, and they had put Tab down. They brought around the tractor with the bucket on the front, and Bob, the barn owner, told the guy which pasture he was to dig the hole in, and that Bob would bring the horse out. Call me hardened, heartless, cold, whatever, but it was interesting to watch. Never occured to me that they'd use the forklift on the barn tractor...made sense. God knows I've seen enough dead horses in my day, including my own, so it didn't bother me at all...Sandy, my friend, had taken her Paint to the back barn to finish banding her mane, she couldn't watch. Believe me, that dead horse was in lot better shape than he'd been 15 minutes early, writhing and rolling and kicking in AGONY because he had a stupid BITCH for an owner!

That's another thing...I don't feel the least bit sorry for that woman. Couldn't happen to a more deserving person. That horse had dropped around 200# over the Summer, she kept it in a stall (why? because it was getting fat with the free-choice hay or grazing?), she hit him, she yelled at
him...I think that horse is happier now.

I know Bob was rushing to get the dead horse out of his indoor arena, because people were arriving for the horse show tomorrow...can't look too good, having a dead horse blocking the temporary stalls...two women had to wait outside with their horses because Tab was blocking their assigned stalls.

Still kind of hard to believe...how a horse can go from galloping down an arena to dead in 2 hours. Makes you wonder. Makes ME wonder anyway.

And yes, I wish to HELL I had had the guts to speak up when they were trotting him around, but had to admit, that woman intimidated ME as well. Toss another thing into my pile of Life's Regrets.

But on a BRIGHTER note...yesterday morning one of the boarders' mare gave birth to an ADORABLE little filly! And the circle of life continues...albeit a bit backwards in this case.

"One child born to carry on, carry on..."