As many of you know, I lost my cockatiel Cade on Easter, and still have yet to get over her. I miss her every day. On June 17th, my 27 year old Appaloosa gelding Rusty came home after having surgery to remove a sarcoid. All was well, but we had been assured by two vets prior to the operation that he would have to be put down due to his age. Of course, anyone who has seen his pictures here on deviantart knows that he was in absolutely AMAZING condition, and so when they actually saw him in person, they decided to do the surgery.
On the evening of July 5th, my Rusty broke through a 6x6 corner post of a wooden fence and was struck and killed by a pickup truck over a half mile away.
Rusty was a police horse, a lesson horse, a gamer, and my first horse. I had him for 13 years. He was absolutely bombproof. We are at a loss as to what could possibly have frightened him badly enough to cause him to hit the fence, break through, and travel so far. He was never afraid of fireworks. None of the other horses followed him. This all happened while my dad was home alone, and he knows nothing about horses. My mom and I were three hours away at a horse show which I was photographing and in which she was competing with Joey.
The entire event is just so unbelievable and bizarre that I still have not come to terms with it. To make things worse, I found out that several of my friends saw my horse lying dead on the road before I even knew what had happened. To have been sure I was going to lose him, to having him back safe and sound and comfortable, to losing him again, and so soon after my beloved Cade, has just emotionally drained me. I am not a negative person, but recent events seem to have made me such. I am just trying to keep my head up at this point. What a horrible summer.
Rest in peace to another one of my incredible animals.