gemini: the final update

(This 2009 pic is my phone background, naturally. I like big butts and I cannot lie.)

It was pretty much inevitable when she didn't respond to treatment. She wasn't getting much worse, but she wasn't getting any better at all. She wasn't in pain or even distress, but I didn't want to wait until she was in pain or distress. If I wasn't going away tomorrow, of if I was more sure of her condition, I would have (selfishly) waited until after Sunday, our 6-year anniversary together. But I didn't want to her to have a crisis while I was away.

So I had her put down at 10:00 this morning. wereterrier and lyonesse were there with me. Once she was down on the ground, we were petting her as she died. Even more than with the cat and dog, I could feel the transition from horse to dead horse - a palpable change in muscle tone.

I took a big chunk of her tail, which maybe I'll have braided together with Cheyenne's tail into a bracelet or something. I'll also take her leftover grain, and make horse cookies. (She was always a picky eater, so we've been in the habit of collecting her uneaten grain so I can see how much she is or isn't eating, since I'm not usually around for feeding, and also so I can feed it out for lunch or snackies. She especially doesn't like anything dusty or powdery, so I've been sifting out her leftover grain and making cookies with the powder. But now I've got the remaining 3 gallons (about 3 weeks worth) of leftover grain - enough for about 36 dozen cookies.)

Anyway, I've been remarkably okay for most of the day. I really wish it hadn't come to this, but I think I made the right decision. I'm just more bummed than anything else right now. (And the 'death' tag rises to 29 uses, even without posting about Terry Pratchett.)