Val du Neuf- crossed the rainbow bridge, July 4th.
First off, I will preface by saying that in my 30 some years of owning horses, I've only ever lost one other horse (26 y/o mare many years ago). Val came to my farm just a little over 3 yrs. ago after having been culled from a breeding farm and sent to the Unadilla sale. At that time, she had lost nearly all of her vision, and she was the last horse to go through the sale. I had seen her early on, they had placed her in one of the back stalls where it's very dark, and with the little bit of daylight that was shining into the area, all I could see what the profile of her head. She stood there quietly, unsure of what was happening to her, and I approached the meatman and told him- 'if you get that mare I'll be over to pick her up in the morning'. The next day came and assuredly, he did have her. I went over and picked her up and brought her home to my farm.
She was a grand old mare, an even keeled personality and loved the attention I gave her. She knew my voice and all I'd need to do was call her 'Val' , 'Val', and she'd carefully mosey her way to me. I remember my first winter here in NY with her. As my brood is out 24/7 I ordered a blanket for her too, and my vet, that knew the history of this mare, just laughed and said 'she's never worn a blanket'.
She never gave me an ounce of trouble, though I could see over this past winter she appeared a bit more 'frail'. Her weight remained steady but over the course of the past year, she had developed some hardened lumps down the side of her neck, tumors. The thought of having to make a decision as this fall/winter approached, was weighing heavy on my mind. But on the 4th of July, she made the decision for me. I went out to do the morning feed and she didn't come. I called her 'Val', but still no Val. I immediately had a sinking feeling in my heart, I could feel that she was not going to come. I found her lying in the run-in, just as though she had layed down to sleep and never woke up. No signs of distress, no sweating, pawing at the ground, nothing- just laid down and died. I'm thankful I was spared any heartache of suffering, and once again, in her final hours, she remained true to form and caused no fussing.
I loved her dearly and find it odd not to see 'my two bay mares'- her favorite partner and pasture companion stands alone (Regal Victory). RIP my sweet Val......
http://www.pedigreequery.com/val+du+neuf
RIP - My sweet Val
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geowarrior
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Ahhh, Marli, I'm so sorry. You've told me of Val many times, and each time I could hear the love in your voice. Thank goodness that she was granted an easy passage to the Bridge.
Check out the retiring thoroughbreds from Finger Lakes Racetrack, for sale through FLTAP (a 501 (c) (3) ) at http://fltrainerlist.proboards104.com/
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