I will try to make a story of 18 years as short as possible. I brought
my filly – Winner’s New Dawn – home when she was weaned from her mother. So many very good times just sitting out at the barn, talking to her and just being with her. We showed at halter an showmanship for 2 years. At the horse shows she never gave me any problems. She seemed to have a good time, but didn’t want to be with other horses, she was happiest with just me and my husband.
Then at 3, she foundered. We had to watch her weight as close as we could. We had more good days than bad. She was my pet, so not being able to ride her didn’t matter to me. She was forever looking at the back door, to see if she could see me. No matter where I was,
she would find me.
She always said hello. Every time she saw me, in the pasture or stall, she always greeted me. She let me no when she wanted out, and she would go to the gate and tell me when she wanted back in her stall. One time she was in the pasture, and so was I. A strange dog came in and I guess she thought it was going to hurt me. She came running from the far side of the pasture, right beside me, to chase that dog out.
She seemed to know what I was thinking. If I was brushing the other horses, I would say to her, “well what do you think?” and she would look up as if to say, “good job, mom.” She loved to be hosed off in the summer and would grab the hose and try to wet you. If I got my daughter to hold her, she would try to nibble at her and my daughter would cry out for me to look. When I would turn around, Dawn would be standing there like she was not doing a thing.
One day I did catch her; boy, did she have a suprise look on her face knowing she had gotton caught! We would take her out and just go walking on our land, which she enjoyed. You could not eat or drink anything without her having to have a bite.
When she was a baby and it was so hot, I put a fan in her stall. She would look at me, then the fan. Every summer she looked forward to that. Believe it or not, she would not let just anyone come in her stall. My vet said one time when she leaned on her stall door, Dawn put her ears back, with “that is my stall.” She had a half back door she would look out and one day my husband came home and said to her, “Hello Mr. Ed.”I watched her so close paying attention
to her weight, feet and her diet.
In 2000, she starting showing signs of getting worse. I called the vets out. They x-rayed her hooves as they had done so many times. They said she had one more option, cut the deep fexlor tenions or put her down. We cut her tenions and for a year she was doing so good.
Then one morning, I went out to feed an she was shaking while laying down. I called the vet. Then my husband, my daughter and best friend came over to be with me. My husband had rented a back hoe to dig our angel her resting place, because my husband said she was too much a lady, to be thrown in the ground. My vet waited until we got through with her grave, then she came out. My husband told my friend to take me home with her.
My vet gave her a shot in her hooves so she could stand up an walk. My daughter said, when my husband had to put the halter on her is when he fell to pieces. They walked her towards her grave, letting her eat, and doing what she wanted to. She walked right in to her grave an my daughter said, she looked at my husband as to say, “you can say goodbye now,” and it looked to her as if there was a ray of sunshine in her face. When the vet gave her that last shot, my husband and her helped her lie down, and the vet told my husband
she was asleep now.
All my vets said, she was not my horse. She was my child. They knew of no other horse that had lived with this disease, which was chronic founder, as long as her. They said my care and the love we had for each other, kept her alive for so long. I can say, back then I had it all, so you see that kind of companionship comes around once in your life. I am almost 56 and I will probably never have another like her. She was truly, one of a kind. As for me, my heart will never stop breaking.
I will love and miss her until I die.
With All My Love,
| Winner's New Dawn |
| Wanda |