Leo, Simon, and Pegasus

A week ago we had our long awaited vet check on Leo and his mystery hip. Up until that day, I had refused to let the kids come to the barn with me for chores. I knew they loved him just gazing out the window at him in the pasture, and I knew that if they got to know his sweet personality it would be even worse if the vet check went badly.

Every day I picked them up from school they asked if the vet had been out yet.

Meantime I was trying my best to evaluate Leo myself. I rode him at the same mild intensity that his owner we purchased from was riding him, a few days in a row, with no change. We watched him out in the pasture running around with the boys, sometimes cocking his hip while grazing. Spending time caring for him and working with him, I'd already gotten pretty attached to him and Chris and I agreed that if the vet said that whatever was wrong wouldn't worsen or cause him pain, he was here to stay.

Horse professionals looked at video of him and even came out and saw the horse themselves. An SI joint issue was a strong possibility, one that could be managed for what we needed him for.

Finally the opinion that really mattered arrived to weigh-in. All of my boys were due for their coggins and to have their teeth checked so I asked the vet to start on them first, I didn't want to have my mind racing over Leo's prognosis handling the boys. Everybody ended up needing their teeth done, Spotlight by far needing the most work and Czech by far needing the most repeated sedations.

Then I brought Leo out after giving my vet his history.

Within just a few minutes the vet was crystal clear that it was not a hip issue. Not a chiropractic issue. His stifle (rear leg knee joint) was mangled. I tried to bargain with him on the true severity showing him how he moved in the pasture, but the facts were that Leo's accident two years ago tore multiple ligaments. For certain ACL and for certain multiple others. The knee cap wasn't floating (as I had suspected) he couldn't even palpate it under the masses of scar and joint fluid Leo's body had put in place trying to repair the knee on it's own.

I asked what sort of surgery could benefit him, the answer was none. It was too old. Too much scarring. Too severe. He could have had surgery when the injury occurred but my vet also said that euthanasia would have been a strong option at the time of injury.

I wanted a way to keep him. It seemed unbelievable that Leo was truly that damaged and was moving as well as he was. My vet is so good, he heard me out and in few words said there was no hope for improvement. I said, "Well at least he doesn't appear to be in pain."

The vet responded, "He has to be. Constantly. There is no way this isn't very painful. He's just adapted."

"What does he need?"

"Daily pain medications, strong ones, twice a day, a flat pasture, and fingers crossed that when the leg totally blows that he is put down quickly."

Well that was that. I can't do it. He can't stay. I bought a horse for the kids to love and ride that is in reality a hopeless case of management until it's his time. As much as I cared about him now, it would only be that much harder to let him go in the future and I felt like he should go back to the owner who had him through all of his best years. I couldn't be his brief stay before the end.

After I got the kids home from school and began to tell them, my oldest knew by my tone it was coming and put his arm around my youngest daughter who began to silently sob. I explained that we knew the day we met him that he was only here if the vet said okay and the vet said that he wasn't the right pony for us. A lot of kid negotiating happened before they realized that I wasn't going to change my mind. I promised them that there was a right pony out there for them and that we thought we had found him but were wrong, we had to keep looking to find him.

Mikayla asked if when we find our pony she could name him Pegasus because that was what she wanted her pony to be. Of course I agreed and we went back to calling him Leo while he was with us for four more days before he could go back to his previous owner.

I know life lessons for kids are hard but good and they help them grow and learn. I also know that watching your kids hurt is the worst feeling in the entire universe. The pony we needed was going to be nearly impossible to find and I immediately got started.

I made a total of 58 contacts. Scoured horse ads. Equine sites. Rescue sites. Friends. Horse professionals. I called them all. One by one I ruled out potential horses that we uncovered while quite a few came back with, "When I get a horse like that, I never sell them."

I told the kids that finding our pony might take a long time but it would be worth it.

Then a pony appeared via a friend who works for an equine vet a few hours south of me, who knew someone, that knew someone. Roundabout I was put in touch with a lady who had a pony her granddaughters no longer had interest in.

This lady was like me, super picky with a high standard of care. We interviewed each other. She drove two and a half hours one way to view my farm and meet us personally. That evening, she called with the news that her pony Simon was now our pony Pegasus.

Simon/Pegasus is a 14 year old Welsh Pony. He is a little guy, a full hand smaller than Spotlight at 12.1. No vices and totally sound, his only negative mark is that he has foundered once. It was caught and reversed early, as long as he wears a grazing muzzle in lush grass and has regular hoof care he hasn't had an issue from it. He is used to a stall at night and can go months with no work then be ridden by kids safely and has already passed vet exam.

The only catch to Simon/Pegasus is that he has a friend. To give him a companion, his owner had taken in a miniature horse. A condition on letting Simon/Pegasus go to a new home was that his mini friend had to come too so that the mini would not be left alone.

Stormy is a 4 year old 29 inch tall gelding. He is also used to a nightly stall and large turnout with board fence.

I have no extra stall or desire to have a mini. With my big boys I would be constantly worried that one poorly timed kick would kill a miniature horse. The owner agreed that it would be okay that we took Simon/Pegasus without Stormy, but only after she found a home for Stormy that had board fenced acreage, a stall for him, a horse companion for him, and the capability to handle a little spit-fire of a horse (sedation is routine for him for feet/trailering).

So, we must wait for Stormy to be adopted to be able to go and get our new guy, taking turns between the five kids to ride Spotlight and giving friend's pony rides too.

At the lowest low when I was looking at Leo knowing he had to go back and not wanting to let him go, to the highest high of finding a pearl in the ocean in discovering Simon/Pegasus, it's been quite a week around here.