THE USUAL NOTE FROM LB: From the summer of 2002 to the spring of 2010, Gwen the Beautiful and I were the proud and often exhausted owners of a beautiful Ozarks property we called Cloud Creek Ranch.
In many ways, the ranch was paradise. But it was a paradise with a price that started going up before we even knew it existed. Here’s another Monday musing about our adventure and the lessons we learned.
Oh, and if y’all detect any irony, please believe me when I say it comes straight from the universe and not your kindly Uncle Larry B.
Saying Goodbye to Elaine
by Larry Brody
Elaine the Not So Wild Mustang died today.
Her front leg problems have been slowly and steadily breaking her down. Over the years the gentle little horse had many bouts with laminitis, a hoof condition that often proves fatal. Always, she managed to survive. To bear the pain until it lifted.
For the past week, though, Elaine was in pain so great that not even Bute, the horse wonder drug, could alleviate it. All Elaine could do was stand still or slowly drag herself to food. And I mean slowly.
It took her thirty minutes to stiff-leg herself thirty feet. The pain from the laminitis and bone spurs she’d been developing over the twenty years since she was born wild in the Nevada desert was evident in every ragged breath along the way.
J.L., the Big Animal Vet, and his wife, L.J. (yes, they compliment each other as perfectly as their names), came up to The Mountain this morning to examine Elaine while Huck the Spotless Appaloosa and Rosie the New Girl in Town looked on.
Elaine’s always been very chary about relaxing around humans, but outside of Dan the Farrier her favorite human is L.J. L.J. held Elaine while J.L. tried to examine her feet, but the pain was too great for the mustang to let them be touched.
J.L. gave her a sedative, and, in his wife’s arms, Elaine slowly sank to the ground to doze on her side. Gwen the Beautiful sat down beside her and cradled Elaine’s head, and J.L. scraped the mud from the bottom of Elaine’s hooves so he could get a good look.
Only there was nothing good about it.
“See the abscesses?” he said. “How tender she is here? And here? Look at the hoofline.”
“It looks like a human foot in a shoe,” I said.
“That’s because her toe has changed position. It’s growing out the wrong way.”
“What can you do for her?” Gwen said.
“Nothing,” he said. He looked stricken, as though he was about to cry. “I won’t tell you to put her down. That wouldn’t be fair. But I’ll suggest you consider the option.
“Right now, Elaine’s in the worst sort of pain,” J.L. continued. “Except that as bad as it is it’ll still increase. She’ll suffer more. She won’t eat. Finally she’ll lie down and you won’t be able to get her up again. You’ll call me and ask me to come back and wish you’d made the decision today.”
I looked at Gwen, who was crying. She managed a nod. I went over to Huck and Rosie, who were standing side by side, the closest they’d been since Rosie got here.
“You heard the man,” I said. “What do you think?”
“She loves me,” Huck said. “She’s afraid to be anywhere I’m not.”
“She’ll still be here,” Rosie said. “Just in another way.”
Huck nodded. “Just so she’s not afraid”
I wrapped my arms around Huck’s neck so no one could see my tears and went back to the others. “Bye, Elaine,” I said. And, together with Gwen, “I love you.”
J.L. injected her again. Elaine breathed lightly, then blew the way she did when she was really enjoying her food. Then stopped.
It was over.
Almost immediately, it started to rain. Gwen stayed out with Elaine and the others while I went inside to find a neighbor with a backhoe so we could bury Elaine as quickly as possible.
After two phone calls the Reverend Fred up the road hooked us up with Vance, a young construction type. Two and hours later Vance was digging beside Elaine and then using the backhoe to nudge her body into the hole so he could cover it over.
The entire process took about an hour, and Huck and Rosie stood right beside me the whole time.
Nothing could make them go away.
After Vance left, Huck and Rosie stood exactly where the hole had been, their heads bowed. Stayed that way for almost an hour.
I decided to feed the horses early. Gwen and I carted over some hay. Huck and Rosie came to eat it together…sharing as they’d never shared before. Suddenly they stopped, whirling and staring at the woods at the far end of the corral.
“What’s the matter?” I said.
“Can you see her out there?” Huck said. “Can you see Elaine running?”
“She’s running like the wind,” Rosie said.
The rain kept on.
So did Elaine.
