maggies_lens

Yesterday I received a call that no horse owner wants to receive. My agistment owner, Dave, had checked the horses in the morning and all was well, Danny was grazing away happily (it was his favourite thing in the world to do). He went back at about 3:30pm-ish to check the horses again, and found Danny down. He ran in but it was too late. It looks like Dan passed away sometime during the morning. No signs of struggle at all. He had a scrape on his hip and one side of his head. We believe what happened is he had a massive heart attack or something along those lines. It looks like he fell, got up and then fell immediately onto his other side. As there was no marks of struggle of any kind, we believe he may have been dead before he hit the ground the 2nd time. The only mark was a small shallow scrape in the ground by a hind hoof, which judging by the look of it was probably from when his nervous system was shutting down.

Poor Destiny was in the paddock with him when it happened and until I got there. She wasn't freaking out or anything but you could see she was distressed. She nickered in a constant stream as soon as she saw Craig and I coming. Craig comforted her and got the halter on while I went to say good bye to Dan. He looked very peaceful, just like he was sleeping. I said good bye, told him he was the best horse anyone could have ever asked for, settled his mane (which never laid down properly, btw) one last time, ran my hand down his sweet face one last time. We led Destiny out, she kept shoving her face into my hands, obviously not too happy. She is in the huge double-private I had them both in before the move to the smaller paddocks. She seemed to calm right down as soon as we were at the other end of the property and settled down to eat almost immediately. She should be fine. I would like to move her in with other horses ASAP but can't in the normal group paddocks (that's where her neck broke out). Dave had a bobcat and will be burying Danny this morning.

I got Danny from my parents as my 16th birthday present. He's been with me through everything. I can't quite believe he's gone, he's always been there. He's been there for almost half my life.

You could trust him with the rawest beginner, here he is taking Shar out for a walk. This was one of his very last rides.

In winter he turned soooooooooo fuzzy. When I first got him, Danny was very stand-off-ish. It took a few years but he learned to love cuddles and esp in the last couple of years, seemed to really seek cuddles out. He had this quiet, deepp, nicker in his throat, most times you couldn't tell he was that happy to see you unless you saw his nostrils flutter. It was super sweet.

Every winter he got huuuuge black patches over his eyes

And every Spring it took hours of grooming over weeks to get him to look less like a yak

One of my fav shots of him

When Destiny joined the family, he took her pretty much in stride, put up with her antics, and was a massive help in my training of her. They became good friends.

As he got older, Danny's lower lip got looser and looser. I loved it. In his hay day, Danny was a hell of a riding horse. He was fast, bold and brave. I used to call him The Bulldozer - he'd lead the other horses out on a ride through anything. Nothing worried him, except open wheely bin lids and, on one very memorable occasion, kids on roller blades. He could move like a little pocket rocket. I used to love galloping him up the hills. I could ride him bareback. He'd arch up his neck and prance along, making me look like I was SUCH an awesome rider in control of this Mighty Steed.