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euthanized. She had laminitis in all four of her legs. We had to wait a day
for the owner to give Dr. Smith permission to euthanize her and put her
out of her misery.
While waiting to get the call about this little brown and white horse
that was such a sweetheart, people came over to tell me that Pinto was a
good horse, that she had four babies, she was only eleven years old. She
gave all the ranch kids rides. She was a very gentle, loving horse. I couldn’t
understand how everybody on that ranch who knew how sweet and loving
she was could walk by and see her lying in her own manure, swarmed by
flies, and not do something.
At one point, someone on the ranch came over to me and said that
every time they looked into her stall they would think she was in hell.
Why didn’t anybody do anything? The more I asked the more I realized
the answer was that nobody wanted to get involved. They thought of the
trouble it might bring. And so they did nothing.
I finally got the call from the owner. He gave me every excuse in the
world for why this had happened. But the reason it happened was because
he did not care. He wanted me to feel more sorry for him than for the
horse.
I kept my composure and called Dr. Smith and told him the owner had
given permission to put Pinto out of her pain. We pulled her out of the
stall into the sunlight. Every step she took was so painful she just shook
from her head to her toes. Dr. Smith gave her a painkiller right away. I
offered her a handful of Senior (pellets from SmartFlex), some carrots and
an apple. Her lips were soft and her eyes were worn and tired from all the
pain. I kissed her and told her that soon there would be no more pain, and
no more flies to bother her.
When Dr. Smith gave her the last injection, he guided her down to the
ground. As she took her last breath, I hugged her and kissed her again.
And I thought to myself how heartless and cowardly people can be. Her
owner was not even present at the end of her life when she had given so
much to him and his family.
The reason I have told this story is that there are times when horses need
to be put down. The Heart of a Horse euthanasia program was created to
rescue horses like Pinto from their suffering, and to do it with a licensed
vet and in the right way. To give horses like Pinto love and dignity and
kindness before they leave their bodies.
When I drove away from this filthy ranch where Pinto had lived and
died, there was a young girl who waved me down. She said to me “Are you
the Heart of a Horse lady?” I said “Yes.” She wanted to let me know that
she loved Pinto but didn’t know what to do. She told me that Pinto had
been a very good horse and didn’t deserve what happened to her, and that
she felt ashamed.
I wish I could make this a happy story but I can’t. All I can leave you
with is that by helping us you will bring kindness and love into the hearts
of horses in need. The only thing that gives me peace from this story is that
Pinto will not be in pain tonight.
The mission of the Heart of a Horse Foundation is to save horses like
Pinto and return them to productive lives. To learn more, you are invited
to call 323-331-9259, or visit www.heartofahorse.org. Ms Horowitz can
also be reached directly at: april@heartofahorse.org.
Diddy (in photo) is a rescue horse. “When I met Diddy,” Ms Horowitz recounts,
“he had been pastured in an open field with a group of miniature horses who
chased him around, nipping at him. The [owner] told me: ‘If you want that pony
out there, you can have him.’