Sad week-end

My Friend's horse Shifty died suddenly this week-end. Aged 22 a wonderful boy, had a bad start in life, bought as a 2 year old in very poor condition. A pure Dales Pony.
He was my Casper's Field companion when we were on our holiday's. I will miss him very much, alway's the first to the gate when I went to visit. R.I.P Shifty.

so sorry bagpuss , poor Shifty , thank goodness he had 20 good yrs but they leave a huge hole when they go RIP Shifty

My friend Joe is devistated and so are all of use who where there when he went, so strange. He was walking back to the field, stopped, lifted his head high in the air and dropped dead. At least he had never had a day of ill health in his 20 years with Joe, when she first got him she sleeped in the stable with him and nursed him to good health.
He was well loved and will be so sadly missed.

It must have come as a complete shock , thank goodness though it wasn't a long drawn out illness
Take care

Pass on my sympathies, we all dread the loss of our family, even when you know it is coming you can't realy be ready, at least they were there & did not just find him dead.

from the description it sounds almost like he heard someone call him to go doesn't it?

A bad experience for the humans but better for him to go like that, i am sure we all agree on that,

a friends 4y old dropped down dead in the field still with grass in his mouth due to a brain haemorage,

one of the un-known maybe's of any horse which may have had a bad patch in its life is *aneurisms which can sit there and blow out years later, this was thought to be the route cause of my friends horses death.

*aneurism is when a blood vessel expands and then leaves a weakened blood vessel wall, rather like a once blown up balloon now gone down, although they can be present from many causes in any horse (or other animal inc us) they are often cause by a build up of red worm in the system as this sometimes causes a clogged up bloodvessel and behind the clog the bloodvessel swells.

ANOTHER GOOD REASON TO KEEP ON TOP OF WORMING GUYS!

and be wary when buying french horses, they generally live or have lived in shite ridden fields that are never cleaned out, the ideal conditions for red worm damage which you can't see but can cause a myriad of problems most serious