Goodbye to Anya
Approx 1995 to 5/31/23
On Monday, Jedi and Bo came in for dinner, without Anya. Everyone in and fed, and still no sign of her. And I began to worry. It has happened, in the history of TGC, that a member of a ‘herdlet’ will separate from their friends, and wander in much later. I always wondered if they had a spat, or just an “I vant to be alone” moment. They always showed. But Anya never wanted to be alone. I began driving all around the property, and even hiked to the back fenceline, wondering if she’d caught her halter on something and was standing quietly, waiting for help. I searched till dark, without success. And I gave up. Wierdly, neither Bo nor Jedi seemed to worry that she didn’t come back for dinner. I feared that meant she was already gone, and they knew it.
On Tuesday morning I spread the hay, but it wasn’t until I let Bo out, and followed him, that I found her. I thought she was dead. But no, she’d given some slight effort to get up, but was jammed within a clump of bushes, and importantly, two or three short stumps of old oaks. I can’t believe she was there the night before when I was searching. Perhaps she wandered in, and in the dark, tripped because I could not see why anyone would lay down there.
I gave her a couple of carrots which she munched, and offered water which she didn’t want. And I started trying to get her up. To be honest, for the next hour and a half, she really gave no effort at all. Did my poor girl just give up late in the night? I got some help, and had the tractor, and we struggled to flip her over, and drag her into a clear area, and actually lifted her with the bucket, but she would not try at all. And dear supporters, when they cannot reach their feet, it’s over.
Our gorgeous airhead will be so terribly missed. Bo seemed mildly irritated when I put her in a stall next to him, but she grew on him and they were pretty happy, in a Bossy Bo, Submissive Anya manner. When we moved here, though, Jedi was on Anya’s second stall line, and since his love Kaz ignored him most of the time, he attached himself to the happy couple, and I think it gave Anya ideas. Pretty soon she was hanging around Laddie and leaving “her boys” behind. She was amazingly mare-y here, and I should have noted that, because the elder mares usually have a final period of fun before they leave us.
She was very biddable usually, and the unusual hormonal behavior made her quite difficult to deal with. She would not want to go in for dinner if she could stick her head in Laddie’s stall and eat his food. She would play Bo and Jedi against each other, but soon that didn’t work because she really hurt their feelings pursuing Laddie. She tossed her head and said, fine, I don’t need you either! So sassy, as she’d never been before. And then, suddenly, she’d be her normal sweet self. Submissive, passive, following her boys again.
She was gorgeous when she came in, and always stayed strong and healthy, with a blazing red coat, and big soft eyes. No wonder the boys vied for her attention. Im glad she was able to grow confident enough to have some fun with the boys before the aches and pains of old age caught up with her. She was in the neighborhood of 28-30 years of age. She had close to a decade here, after being rejected by her former owners, and two ‘rescues’ who rejected her due to her age, and her NOT being qn OTTB. She landed here at TGC, whose kind hearted supporters made her welcome. Any horse can end up at auction, with an uncertain fate, through no fault of their own. I hope Anya felt she’d been one of the lucky ones.