springer
Aug. 14, 2009, 07:34 PM
This is a situation that has been bothering me for about 6 months. I had a nightmare about it last night and it's haunting me. I miss her terribly and I know she didn't deserve the fate she got.
Dancer, the mother of my precious 2 yr old Balta Czar filly (who I write about regularly on these forums) was a gorgeous 20 yr old TB mare who had supposedly been abused. She was under the care of my vet's office manager (which makes this story even more bizarre) for about 10 yrs. This same woman boarded my TB (Springer) who I shipped out here from Florida, for about 2 yrs until I moved here myself. She used to do equine rescue. She even took my TB sight unseen (I was still out of state at the time) from a bad boarding situation out here; went and picked him up, without even knowing me, in the middle of a really bad icey winter.
I AM getting to the point here, promise! Fast forward 1- 1/2 years. I move here, and finally am able to take Springer to my own property. I need a companion for him, so Dancer seemed like a good choice, and she gave Dancer to me, papers and all. This mare was once raced and broke but somewhere in her past became very distrustful and flighty so I never attemped to do much with her. She did get to where she was somewhat affectionate with me and would let me handle and halter her, but no one else really understood her and just really thought she was a b!#ch.
I decided to breed her (before I hear any comments about that- her filly is as sweet, trusting & laid back as can be!) Nevertheless my husband was not fond of her (nor was anyone else but me for that matter) and when her filly was about a year old I mentioned to the same woman that I would be open to placing her, only if I could find a great home for her. Without hesitation, she told me she would take her back. My husband couldn't get the trailer hooked up fast enough! Let me just say that the woman was going through a nasty divorce along with some other issues- but still had one of her original horses and Dancer was to be a companion for that horse. She had taken wonderful care of Dancer in the past, and my own horse as well. All of her other horses had long since been placed in other homes. She was now big into dog breeding and showing.
I speak with this woman regularly since she works for my vet, so I would always ask about Dancer and it sounded like things were going along just fine. As winter progressed she mentioned that Dancer was being a bit dominant with her gelding, but never did I get the idea that the situation wasn't working for her. (I had always maintained that if it wasn't working out that I would take her back) Around March I got a phone call out of the blue, asking if she could have Dancer's papers back. Of course I said fine. Then she asked me to bring the papers to the Missoula stockyards the next day, that Dancer had gone to auction!!!!!!!!!!!!! She told me she already knew the potential buyer, that it was a good home. (YEAH, RIGHT- how naive can I get) I, not being familiar with the whole auction process, was completely oblivious to what was going on. I go to the stockyards the next day. I ask to see Dancer. (Note: Dancer, when delivered to this woman, was fat, shiny and gorgeous- 5 months previous) Dancer was skinny and in very poor condition. I hardly recognized her. I totally freaked out and got my husband on the phone. He didn't want her back, but regardless, our trailer was still iced in (we live in the mountains). I still technically owned Dancer so I immediately pulled her from the auction (figured out pretty quick how things worked- that she would be going to the killer) and tried to figure something out. I was crying and begging my husband but he didn't know what to do- and something had to be done that day. In the end I made the decision to have her euthanized. I have been beating myself up over this ever since. I really loved that mare (I was the only one in the world who did, obviously). But on short notice all I could think of was keeping her from going to auction. Looking back I think I could have insisted to my husband that we hire someone to bring her home, even though he was against it. The woman insisted that she had been feeding Dancer and that she thought something was wrong with her (um- you work for a vet, idiot!). I now think the woman had gone completely insane.
Anyway, I know this is a very long story but I thought writing about it might clear my mind a bit. Any comments from you COTHers are welcome. I just wish I had Dancer back now.
Thanks in advance for reading this!
Dancer, the mother of my precious 2 yr old Balta Czar filly (who I write about regularly on these forums) was a gorgeous 20 yr old TB mare who had supposedly been abused. She was under the care of my vet's office manager (which makes this story even more bizarre) for about 10 yrs. This same woman boarded my TB (Springer) who I shipped out here from Florida, for about 2 yrs until I moved here myself. She used to do equine rescue. She even took my TB sight unseen (I was still out of state at the time) from a bad boarding situation out here; went and picked him up, without even knowing me, in the middle of a really bad icey winter.
I AM getting to the point here, promise! Fast forward 1- 1/2 years. I move here, and finally am able to take Springer to my own property. I need a companion for him, so Dancer seemed like a good choice, and she gave Dancer to me, papers and all. This mare was once raced and broke but somewhere in her past became very distrustful and flighty so I never attemped to do much with her. She did get to where she was somewhat affectionate with me and would let me handle and halter her, but no one else really understood her and just really thought she was a b!#ch.
I decided to breed her (before I hear any comments about that- her filly is as sweet, trusting & laid back as can be!) Nevertheless my husband was not fond of her (nor was anyone else but me for that matter) and when her filly was about a year old I mentioned to the same woman that I would be open to placing her, only if I could find a great home for her. Without hesitation, she told me she would take her back. My husband couldn't get the trailer hooked up fast enough! Let me just say that the woman was going through a nasty divorce along with some other issues- but still had one of her original horses and Dancer was to be a companion for that horse. She had taken wonderful care of Dancer in the past, and my own horse as well. All of her other horses had long since been placed in other homes. She was now big into dog breeding and showing.
I speak with this woman regularly since she works for my vet, so I would always ask about Dancer and it sounded like things were going along just fine. As winter progressed she mentioned that Dancer was being a bit dominant with her gelding, but never did I get the idea that the situation wasn't working for her. (I had always maintained that if it wasn't working out that I would take her back) Around March I got a phone call out of the blue, asking if she could have Dancer's papers back. Of course I said fine. Then she asked me to bring the papers to the Missoula stockyards the next day, that Dancer had gone to auction!!!!!!!!!!!!! She told me she already knew the potential buyer, that it was a good home. (YEAH, RIGHT- how naive can I get) I, not being familiar with the whole auction process, was completely oblivious to what was going on. I go to the stockyards the next day. I ask to see Dancer. (Note: Dancer, when delivered to this woman, was fat, shiny and gorgeous- 5 months previous) Dancer was skinny and in very poor condition. I hardly recognized her. I totally freaked out and got my husband on the phone. He didn't want her back, but regardless, our trailer was still iced in (we live in the mountains). I still technically owned Dancer so I immediately pulled her from the auction (figured out pretty quick how things worked- that she would be going to the killer) and tried to figure something out. I was crying and begging my husband but he didn't know what to do- and something had to be done that day. In the end I made the decision to have her euthanized. I have been beating myself up over this ever since. I really loved that mare (I was the only one in the world who did, obviously). But on short notice all I could think of was keeping her from going to auction. Looking back I think I could have insisted to my husband that we hire someone to bring her home, even though he was against it. The woman insisted that she had been feeding Dancer and that she thought something was wrong with her (um- you work for a vet, idiot!). I now think the woman had gone completely insane.
Anyway, I know this is a very long story but I thought writing about it might clear my mind a bit. Any comments from you COTHers are welcome. I just wish I had Dancer back now.
Thanks in advance for reading this!