Goodbye's Are Never Easy

Saying goodbye is never easy, neither is this blog post. The picture is of my American Paint Horse Cupcake. Isn't she pretty? She was born late May 28th, 2015 to my horse Sassy ShyAnne. Her Daddy is Shiloh.  Sadly she became sick, almost overnight. I say overnight because even though the disease had probably been building up and taking it's toll on her immune system, it was not until Wednesday of this week that we noticed she was not acting herself. She wanted to lay down more than usual. She acted tired.  My Daddy noticed she was limping, but we thought maybe one of our other horses kicked her, as horses have a way of doing other horses when they do not want to be disturbed or feel jealous. 

Look at sweet baby Cupcake with her Mama hours after she was born. I remember Daddy woke me up that morning. I knew from the excitement in his voice that Sassy had her baby. I jumped out of bed, threw on some shoes and headed outside to see our lovely foal. A filly! 

Even Bama was excited about the new addition to our family. 

So precious. I enjoyed spending hours with her the day she was born, and the next day, and any other time after that, that I could get outside to play with her. 

In this picture you can tell Sassy Shy'Anne was a tired Mama.

This is one of my favorite pictures. Sassy and Goober lovingly checking on baby Cupcake. Goober was outside with Sassy when the baby was born. He seemed to share a special bond with her up until his death in October 2015, another unpleasant goodbye.

Cupcake was the first newborn foal I had ever loved on, pettied and held  in my arms. As you can see fro the picture, it was love at first sight. 

Cupcake loved laying in the hay. It just so happened that laying in the hay is where her life ended over a year after I took this picture.

This picture I took the day after Cupcake's sister was born. Same Dad, the stud in the background, but different mare, of course, considering the fillies were born two months apart. 

Cupcake was a good horse. She had her own personality with a mixture of  Shiloh's gentle nature, and Shy'Anne's sassieness.  I called her my Shiloh Look-a-Like because she looked so much like Shiloh when he was younger, and the older she got the more she looked like Shiloh. 

Wednesday night my Parents and I went to Alabama. Thursday evening we got a call from family who told us that Cupcake was on the ground. She did not look good. She would not get up. They tried to get her to stand up, she would attempt but fall back down.  I called our Veterinarian in Mississippi. 

She said from the description it sounded like Cupcake had encephalitis, which is dangerous, life threatening and contagious to other horses.  She said she would ride out and see Cupcake and see what she could do, but she prepared us for the worst,  just in case.

By the time the Vet got to our house in Mississippi, we were already on the road headed back home from Alabama, so we could be there to handle whatever we needed to handle. 

We were anxiously awaiting the call back from the Vet, but dreading it at the same time. At last my phone rang, I handed it to my Daddy, I knew I would break down in tears on the phone if I answered and I did not want to do that. 

The result, Cupcake indeed had encephalitis, a bad case that could not be controlled. My other horses had to have vaccines, Shiloh would not let the Vet give him his vaccine, so she left the shot for me to give him, which I did today, but that story is for another blog post. 

Cupcake had to be euthanized. My heart broke.  I was not there when she was put to rest, and her suffering ended, but my heart was. I cried and cried.  I am crying thinking about it now while typing this blog post.

I was not with her when she entered this world, and I was not with her when she left this world, but the time I was with her between her beginning and end was special to me.

In my eyes, you died to young Cupcake, but you will never be forgotten. I love you Cupcake, my Shiloh look-alike.