Okie Pokie

I would like to invite everyone out this weekend to celebrate Okie's life!

Okie has been suffering with chronic pain for well over a year, but he was never able to fully recover after the stallion attack in July.  He has been living on 3 gms of bute a day since then.  Horse experts will tell you that this is NOT good.  Though this is a pain and inflammation reducer, Okie is ALWAYS in pain and it hurts my heart to see the pain in his eyes.

Today, Okie continued to lay stretched out while I fed everyone. Avalon, his best friend, stayed with him until I came over to take care of him.

When he rose, he could barely walk. He got up and put his head on my shoulder and walked with me to get his morning feed.

Okie continues to give to his demise.  In October, after my father died, I needed to just ride!  I just needed to forget and be present so I could catch my breath.  All of the other horses moved away from me.  I was very needy!  Okie, though, would not leave me!  I asked him to leave.  I told him that I needed to ride.  I walked away from him and he followed me and in fact would not let me get to the rest of the herd.  So I hopped up on him bareback and did a trail walk.  He did not take a single lame step.  When I got off of him, he could not take a sound step.  He held himself together so that he could help me at his expense.

On Monday, Dr Cohen will be coming here to humanely euthanize my dear friend and partner.  Thank you Mandy Morrison for sharing Okie with Healing with Horses Ranch.  He will be buried next to Playboy and Romney and the carrot patch will go in!