Good-bye to a friend

Last week our older Arabian gelding Captiwijon (affectionaely known as Cap) slipped on the ice after a night of freezing rain.  At the time he seemed to be okay, maybe a little tender on his back end, but really seemed okay.  We moved him anyway from the icy area to somewhere with good footing.  So a couple of days ago I went out to feed them in the a.m and he was on three legs - his right hind leg was just dangling, looked broken to me.  The vet was called, x-rays were taken and they were inconclusive but it was decided that we would give him a couple of days to see if he could recover from it.  That night he laid down in the deeply bedded stall and in the morning it was clear that he wanted up but couldn't do it on his own.  We have a lot of wonderful neighbours and friends and with about 8 of us assisting him he was able to get up.  He had a pretty good day, lots of drugs to keep him comfortable and his owner (she boards him here) spent the whole day with him and then stayed over night last night with him.

This morning it was pretty clear that his three good legs were just not going to be able to hold him up much longer.  The decision to call the vet back was made and he came out right away and kindly, humanely put the old fellow down.  What a sad sad day for us and especially my dear friend Maryan - she truly and sincerely loved that horse.

Now a bit of celebration of his life. 
We were introduced to Cap 6 years ago when he was an 18 year old stallion.
He was originally purchased out of California by his then owner for quite a bit of $$ - this was during the hey day of Arabian breeding, before the horse market fell apart.  At the same time a lovely little bay mare was purchased, Calika, she and Cap have been together their whole lives.
When he was 18, Maryan and I purchased him as a stallion - we were very impressed with him and his very good manners - but he was not trained to ride and we soon fixed that and had him under saddle before long. 
In the Spring we bred him to *Bijou and ever after that he had a special place in his heart for her - he loved her!
We then decided that he was going to be the perfect riding partner for Maryan so we had him gelded and then they really became fast and close partners.
Not long after that, Calika's owner brought here to board as well - they were reunited!
Maryan rode him all year round - she doted on him, cared for him, just adored this funny old horse and it was mutual - he adored her right back.

Today we said good-bye to him - he fought to overcome this for two and a half long days, but it was pretty obvious this a.m. that there was only one final act of kindness for him.
Good-bye Cap - you funny, silly, brave and very lovely boy.

Shelly
Curly Standard Placw