In August, I said goodbye to my sweet black Morgan. Quinta was a character. Not a mean bone in her body, but also slow to trust, with a very short list of people on her ‘good’ list. Perfect ground manners, unless you were walking up to her in a field carrying a halter.
I bought her in Tucson in 2008. We moved from Tucson, to Chicago (where we worked with UDDBer Quiddy, who was definitely on Quinta’s short list), and then to Durham, NC. I bought her to do dressage, but arena work was not her idea of a good time. So, when I bought mare #2, Quinta became my trail pony. She was forward, brave, and trustworthy on the trail, gamely crossing brush, ditches, banks, rivers and bridges without so much as a second glance. She could out-walk anyone else, and had that fantastic Morgan road trot (which she much preferred to cantering). Early this spring, one of her eyes got swollen and weepy. Treated with steroids, but it came back and we got a diagnosis of bilateral equine recurrent uveitis (ERU). We spent the entire spring and summer going back and forth to the NCSU vet school - subpalpabrel lavages, steroid injections, UV blocking eye mask, leptospirosis treatment, surgery for immunosuppressant implants, and meds 2-3 times a day when was she was back at our boarding barn. We were recovering from post-implant surgery when she colicked - sad and frustrating, but not that surprising after months of steroids, atropine, and banamine. We went back to NSCU, where she did pull through after a week of hospitalization. (Having to make the no-surgery decision at 3 am for your 19 year old mare is not a good night). She came home from the vet school with a moving GI tract and clear eyes, but soon developed corneal ulcers in both eyes that refused to heal. So, seven months after this all started, I euthanized her in the cross-country field where we had happily ridden so many times.
Quinta was a brave and compliant patient throughout the whole ordeal and made many friends at our local vet clinic and the NC State hospital. I could not have asked for better vets and techs and I am endlessly grateful for their expertise, support, and kindness.
She did suffer me a few dressage shows, and was a cute mover.
- FenRidgeDressage_2314-1753921699-O.jpg (53.73 KiB) Viewed 23628 times
Her last day. We had lots of peppermints, carrots, and snuggles. She was surprisingly good at snuggling, given her general distrust of humans.
- last_day.jpg (46.99 KiB) Viewed 23628 times
