My horse Happy died tonite.

Found him down in the mud (& NO thx to the ppl who were supposed to check on him during the morning) don't know how long he was down.

Usu we can roll him and get him back up, and we almost did it, but the 3x he tried, he couldn't get his front feet under him (his hooves were cocked under). Then my "help" disappeared. Happy started grunting and breathing really hard, so I called the vet.

*%*%&%&%&%& VET ADMIN!!! I kept trying to tell her I had to leave the phone! but she wouldn't listen. All the time I was trying to leave, Happy was lunging trying to get back up, but there wasn't anyone there (I was by myself then) to help support, encourage or balance him to get him on his feet. BTT I got back to him, to try again, he was flailing his legs, kicking and he gasped his last.

I was near him, but didn't even get to say goodbye. It wasn't supposed to be painful for him. If I thought he would have gone THIS way, I would have had him PTS before now. He was doing soooooooooo well, this was sort of unexpected. He hadn't eaten his feed today, so I don't know, but could imply that he went down earlier....but that's just a guess. I wished I had known, so I could have gotten him up soon.

Bye Happy. You were loved for 30+ years, and you'll be missed.