Written for Wed Feb 11th..
Had not planned to go to the farm, today, but I just had to. Pip died last night. Wanted to take Marie and her family something to show my support. Bought a bunch of dessert type things. Sugar doesn’t take pain away, but it sure helps!
Marie had been away over-night out helping a family friend who had an emergency. I arrived in the farm-yard, just before she did. I had just got out of the car , as she drove in behind me. Annie (Pip’s Mom) saw her coming. She ran to the fence near to where Marie parked and the only way I can describe it is she screamed. I’ve not heard this sound before. It was clearly Annie’s way of telling Marie what happened. We went in to the field and Pip was still there. Marie’s Uncle had wrapped him in a tarpaulin. I think because, when they discovered his body it was too late to dispose of him. Annie followed us to where Pip was. As Marie was looking him over , Annie was smelling him. I noticed the other horses in the herd just watching. We then headed to the house. I prepared Kaz’s meal (has to soak for 15 minutes) and Marie went in to touch base with her Aunt. Marie’s Aunt (I’m going to call her Mrs. Farmer) explained to Marie that Indiana (Marie’s Appaloosa) from the front herd had jumped the fence ran down the road and jumped over the fence to where Annie’s herd was. Marie felt she was probably aware of something going on and went to check it out. Then most of the other horses in Annie’s herd followed her over another fence in to the yard around the house. You can imagine. A bit of mayhem! Marie’s Uncle (going to call him Mr. Farmer) got all the horses back except Indiana. She’s a bit stubborn! : – ) That was early in the morning. Later on Mr. Farmer had come in for a bit and then said he’d better get outside. We all understood that he meant to deal with Pip. Marie was busy getting caught up on business with her Aunt. I followed Mr. Farmer out to feed Kaz. Mr. Farmer started the tractor and headed towards the gate to pick up Pip. Indiana was blocking the gate and clearly wanted in. Mr. Farmer asked me to get the ‘carrot stick’ stored on the tractor and hold her back. She looked at me like “you and who’s army??” I snapped it on the ground (remembering Marie had said you have to take a stand…you have to mean it..) it worked she backed off. I opened the gate and let Mr. Farmer through. He asked me to wait to watch the gate until he came through with Pip , again. I watched him go through the field and then watched Annie trot beside him. She was a bit anxious. Going back and forth. Mr. Farmer, somehow, got Pip in to the bucket of the tractor with Annie right there pacing. He let her pace. He then came back through the gate, which is next to the stallion’s (Johnny Cash) enclosure (Johnny was Pip’s Dad). He then drove, as close as he could to the fence near Johnny and lowered the bucket. Johnny pushed his big head and neck through and gently smelt and ‘felt’ Pip. At this point , I’d lost it. It was clear they were saying goodbye to their ‘baby’. As a parent or, actually anyone would find this very hard to watch. Mr. Farmer doesn’t seem like a ‘mushy’ kind of guy. But he is sensitive and realized Pip’s parents needed to do this. He was so patient. I liked Mr. Farmer already. I liked him even more after this.
As he drove away, the herd stood together all facing the direction he went in. Quietly, just standing there. I had to coax Kaz to come for his meal. Normally, not an issue. Tina, Rocky and Annie since moving to the herd, always follow Kaz, when he comes for his meal, to try to get some, but tnone of them did today. It was weird.
I’ve read a few articles (that I believed) saying animals don’t grieve like us. I understood that to mean that they didn’t feel bad. I now know for sure; horses do feel something. Grief? Stress? not sure. There was a process. They were all disturbed and his parents said ‘goodbye’.
I asked Marie about it and she explained “they can’t afford to be distracted in the wild” . Even though they are on a farm, they have all the same instincts, as a wild horse I guess. They have to pay attention or they get hurt or they die.
Another lesson for the volunteer from the city.
myadventureswithmarie 