Joker’s Reno Sun, aka Joker is gone

Thank you so very much, everyone, for all of your comforting and very caring thoughts.

I have read this thread clear thru several times over the weekend; all of you have no idea how much comfort it has brought.❤

I have to now focus on Rusty and what to do is a dilemma, given my age. Rusty has been eerily quiet; I have only heard him call out a handful of times. I know he knows Joker is gone because I allowed him to watch the entire process. He thought he wanted to see Joker’s stall but quickly changed his mind, when I let him thru the aisle gate.

I have been letting Rusty have 24/7 access to the two front pastures at night (about four acres). He is still spending most of his night in the barn because I hear him thru the intercom.

Even though I don’t want another horse, I can’t let him be alone; Rusty has never in his life been alone. It is my hope I can either find someone who needs to retire a senior horse that is still reasonably healthy, or I might call one of the 501(c)3 rescues to inquire about bringing someone home, with the understanding the horse goes back to them when Rusty’s time is up, if they would even do that.

DH lovingly told me he is behind me 200%, whatever I decide to do. The farrier will be here this morning, so the “Rusty needs a friend” conversation starts with her. Hopefully I have enough sense in my head to make a good decision.

Which, BTW, I owe DH big time for freezing almost all day Saturday, helping the two neighbor guys, t
remove The front panel wall off Joker’s stall and get him out of there. The track hoe that came has a 20’ boom, the operator was literally able to get the boom into the barn and carry Joker to his final resting place.

Joker is the sixth horse, I have laid to rest in my lifetime, and every bit as gut wrenching to lose him. Each one of those horses have been a Heart Horse in their own way, but Joker was exceptIonal because he was so people oriented and could win over any professional who set foot in my barn. The mold was broke when Joker left this earth.

I have two more pictures I would like to share. They are of Joker’s crow friend. This crow has been on this farm for more than ten years. He spent a lot of time hanging out near Joker.

The first picture was July, 2021 during a rough period when Joker wasn’t feeling well and did not want to come out of the barn. If you look close, the crow is standing in front of the big barn doors, looking for Joker.

The second picture was very early yesterday (Sunday) of the crow hopping away from Joker’s grave. The crow was on Joker’s grave but I couldn’t get my cell phone out in time to capture him directly on top of Joker. The crow is the black blurb, just to the right of the T post.

Nobody will ever convince me that other species don’t know when they lose a friend.

Today was the farrier’s scheduled day - she arrived in tears and left two hours later with one of Joker’s horse shoes to make something.

Rusty didn‘t need haltered, which is the norm but he even put up with the farrier’s young dog walking under him, which is not the norm.

@rambo99 yes, losing them is awful and while we have no choice but to accept the loss, it does not make things easier. Our only consolation is that we gave them good homes and time does help ease the pain.

Rusty has called out a few times. He is moving around quietly but I am watching him closely and the Banamine is within fast reach in refrigerator, just in case.

I saw the crow standing on Joker’s grave again, this morning.

The farrier was late, so I spent my waiting time observing Rusty. His sweet, conniving self was too quiet and he kept turning his head to me, as if asking for me to do something. He is, however, laying down in his stall at night, earring most of his hay as is usual, and leaving me five piles of manure which is also as usual.

At my age, another horse is a Catch 22, but I just can’t let Rusty be alone. I have pretty much decided against bringing in a paying boarder because I am way too over-the-top anal regarding proper & correct handling and health care.

I have started looking at rescues for a senior who does not appear to have to a lot of health issues. It is amazing how few older rescues are out there, at least within a 150 miles of me. The two possibilities I found are both in Kentucky at the same rescue.

One is a 1996 Quarter Horse/mix, so that begs the question regarding HYPP which I know nothing about in terms of treatment. Nothing is mentioned but that doesn’t mean anything.

The other is a 2000 RMH/mix with a winsome expression. Some Rockys come with their own set of problems, including IR and blindness issues, if they carry the silver gene. He looks to be a chocolate, so blindness could become a problem. Again, no mention of any health abnormal problems but he is only 22.

I am just going to keep praying for guidance. If I were selfish, my answer would be for Rusty to just go it alone, as he will be 28 in April. I can’t do that to him, especially with him being an insecure horse to begin with.

PLEASE do your happy dances folks, I THINK a horse I have wanted for years might be available — he is 22 this year and a dead broke to the trails RMH.

My friend up in PA bought Gilly when he was 7 or 8 from his breeder somewhere on the easterly side of Kentucky. She rides like I do, so they have slogged everywhere, including across rivers and up in the mountains.

When she developed breast cancer, the meds made her (who was always a bean pole), gain mega weight. Her knees started bothering her, so she found a good human trail riding partner for Gilly and sold him to her.

Fast forward to today, when my friend called to say she hopes I’m not mad but she and her husband will be here tomorrow (Thursday), on their way to Florida for more visiting. I haven’t seen her since 2006 so I am ecstatic.

Anyway, I told her about Joker and that I have been spending many unsuccessful hours looking for a friend for Rusty. She said too bad I’m so far away as Gilly’s owner keeps trying to get her to take him back as the woman now has three horses and can’t ride them all anymore.

The bottom line is my friend promised she will call Gilly’s “stepmom” to tell her I will take him, even if it means I have to put new tires on my horse trailer and drive to Ohio to get him.

I know the horse and I know the care he has had. By all accounts, he is a young 22, like Rusty is a young 28. He also has enough spit to him that he won’t take Rusty’s bullying ways but he won‘t run Rusty through the fence either. He is used to running in/out of his barn, on ten acres and is fence savvy. The only difference here is he will be stalled at night and have 20+ acres to roam.

Gilly is a beautiful Buckskin, which I never thought there were buckskin RMH’s but he is registered and my friend bought him from his breeder.

It is not cast in stone but the odds are a tad better than 50-50 that he may come here to live out his days. The best part is, if I want to put a bridle on him and go down the road, I could. I just hope his current owner will go for the offer and trust my friend’s judgement.

Sadly Gilly is a no go. Gilly’s previous owner, who is my lifelong friend & her husband, are unexpectedly visiting from PA today. We have lost a lot friends this year, so they decided to literally go on tour and visit those of us still getting around and I am their first stop. It’s been 16 years since I’ve seen them. In some ways it seems like no time has passed and we are having a wonderful visit.

Anyway, she showed me a recent photo of Gilly. I am as sick as she is because the horse is so morbidly obese he almost doesn’t look like a real horse. There’s a lot to the story but the bottom line is that his current owner is in denial regarding his health. I would be getting right back into the metabolic issues I was dealing with for Joker. My friend was sure I didn’t want to do that, which was why she got a current picture of him — which made her equally as sick😰😰

The two horses at the rescue in Kentucky are still on the table, so I will make an appointment to drive up (4 hours in the car to see them. I have already commented how surprised I am at the senior geldings that are not out there. Many mares but few geldings and some of those are in a Sanctuary environment, making them not adoptable.

I tip my hat in a huge way to all the folks who do any sort of animal rescue and are also involved in their rehab. I could throw up looking at some of the Before fotos.

rambo99 said:

@walkinthewalk

How's rusty doing??

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Rusty is sticking to his normal routine and eating, drinking, recycling like he should.

He is extremely quiet for him, but he is back to sticking his tongue out when it’s meal time.

However———the fecal water syndrome that was 99% cleared up, started creeping back. By this morning it was back with a vengeance..

I read a post somewhere else about a horse with FCWS. She said the only thing that helped him was the product SandTrap but it took several months. Guess who sells it @rambo99 ? Our dear friends from HorseTech, so I’m calling them Monday to order some.

I have Rusty on Succeed but I think for all his outward calm, he is boiling over inside without Joker. He has never been a secure horse and never been alone. The pouring rain and high winds (tornado watch winds) didn’t help his cause last night. My theory is all of this has served as a trigger for the FCWS to rear its ugly head again.

I am ordering some of the Sand Trap first thing Monday, unless Rod has a better idea.

I said all that to say, I am going to try and make it up to the Kentucky Equine Rescue next week (in my car) to look at the 26 year old Quarter Horse, if the hoof photos they send me look ok. He appears to have good hooves but I requested close up shots before I fill out an application and make the 4-1/2 hour drive.

The 22 yr old Rocky looks great and has Joker’s expression BUT it Looks like all four of his hooves are concave. And just something about his body does not look metabolically right to me. Maybe I’m too paranoid but, as you said, after Joker and now seeing what has happened to my friend’s Rocky, I do not want to deal with metabolic issues again, if I can help it.

I want an older horse that’s as youthful as Rusty is, lol

This is the 26 yr old QH, Buckshot. They say he is only an even 14H, so technically a Quarter Pony.

Well the journey was safe and uneventful — I’ll give it that, lol. Thanks to hitting work traffic coming home, I ended up spending 12 hours to the minute on this venture. Had I come straight down 65 thru Nashville, I still might not be home🤐

I didn’t pass on Buckshot but I didn’t commit to him either. I was really impressed with how great he walled a couple hundred feet of gravel drive and never missed a beat, even though his hooves need trimmed. He is a very fast walker for a little QH/ mix. He’s a lot thinner than he appears in his fotos.

I asked to see his teeth. It’s a good thing the young lady had hold of his head because he gave a violent jerk upward. He could have been hurt pretty bad when the dental work was done, or he has not had his mouth handled much. At 26, if he hasn‘t had much handling in that regard it’s a worrisome thing.

I will say, of three aged geldings I looked at, Buckshot was by far the healthiest. @george the mule thano’s for heads up on the possibility of stringhalt, I didn’t pick up on that.

I also Looked at the Rocky that I was sure has metabolic issues. Boy was I spot on. He also has Cushings. What a shame as he is gentle and a dead broke trail horse. People probably surrendered him because they didn’t want to be bothered caring for him, plus all the expenses. He looks to be very well bred.

I also looked at Buckshot’s buddy, a Paint named Moonshine. He broke my heart. He was once a winning show horse for a young girl —- until he developed some sort of issues in his backend and they were done with him. He has trouble walking - reminds me of how Joker walked when he needed the chiropractor.

The day wasn’t a total loss because I haven’t discounted Buckshot yet, but I do have a few local leads to check on.

I do know this— if I were to bring Buckshot home, I’m leaving here at 6:00 AM. Not only to get home before dark but the last 20 miles of road to that place are unreal. The road is narrow and the sides are washed out to where a vehicle could roll over if it goes off the edge🤯🤯

But the farms are gorgeous and many many acres. Unlike the Horse farms down here, folks up there are hanging on to their land.

Much to think about. Maybe my expectations are too high - until I think about all of my Keepers and how well mannered all of them were. Even onery 28 yr old Rusty has more manners

Anyway that’s how the day went. The car was very comfortable on my back and hips, but it guzzled gas - maybe I shouldn’t have been driving 80-85 every chance I got - except during rush hour traffic - THAT was the pits 👽👽

@Acadianartist , you’re probably right that I’m comparing other horses to Joker. When the handler took Buckshot into the arena, there was a cute little (and too young) Palomino mare waiting to be visited by a potential adopter. She wasn’t tied, in Joker’s image, she walked right up to me and put her nose in my hand. I had to move her so the handler could get Buckshot out of the gate. I put my hand on her chest, asked her to step back and she did! Had she been a gelding and older, I would have wrote the check on her back😘

Shortly after that was when Buckshot jerked his head to the sky when we tried to look at his mouth, so it didn’t do much to win me over. I know he’s been ripped out of his home when his elderly owner could no longer care for for him and he has a right to be on guard and nervous. They also feed sweet feed because, as a rescue who relies solely on donations, sweet feed at supper time is better than no feed. The horses are mostly out 24/7 in good sized-to-big pastures with roundbales. The more I watched Buckshot and how he reacted, the more I’d bet money he is part Arab.

If it’s meant to be, he will still be there after my trailer is fixed - another brake spring broke and it seems the two axles are from two different companies, making finding brake springs doubly difficult🤐

@carshon thank you very much for your kind thoughts. I googled River Side Equine and Livestock, and Safe Harbor Sanctuary in Cottontown came up. I have been watching them too. They seem to have all mares ATM. I really hope to find a gelding as Rusty can be on the studdy side with mares. I learned that when our fence neighbor brought In a couple of mares, when we first moved here. That horse made a fool of himself🥴🥴

@egrogan I am so sorry you find yourself in such a heart wrenching dilemma. My heart hurts for the 31 year old mare and also for her herd family who have not been handled and this puts them at huge risk for a good adoption.

I am finding this is not uncommon amongst the elderly. Being elderly myself, I would love to know what these folks are thinking when they keep putting foals on the ground and don’t have the strength or the resources to get them properly trained - just let them grow up and become pasture pets without a thought to their future when the owners are gone. My farrier knows of a small herd of Arabs in a similar situation.

****
DH never carries his cell phone so he missed what was probably a stellar Kodak Moment between Freyja the Rottweiler and Rusty.

DH gave Rusty his supper while I was gone. Rusty was getting a drink before coming in the barn and I guess Freyja was walking around him, studying him. When Rusty had enough water, Freyja went to the tub and drank, which is not that normal for her. While she was drinking, Rusty put his nose on her back and gently sniffed her from one end to the other. Then he shook his head and walked away. Maybe that meant “you still smell like a dog but ok”.😘

Acadianartist said:

Is there any chance Rusty will adjust to solo life given that you have other animals on the farm? I'd be tempted to go slow, take my time... when the perfect horse comes along, go for it, but in the meantime, maybe Rusty needs time to mourn too.

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I am wondering that myself. When Duke (November 2014) and Streeter (May, 2015j passed, he was beside himself. It took him a year to venture into the far pasture and he never would go on the high ridge, until I let Joker in with him, during Joker’s last 2-3 weeks.

Rusty is a lot different this time. It seems as if he has accepted everything much better now that he is older. He chooses to keep his routine the same, so I do my best to honor that. As has always been the routine, he is at the barn fence by dusk, waiting to come in for supper. His stall is open to the 24 X 100 paddock (as it always has been), so he has plenty of room to move. He lays down to sleep in his stall and he sleeps quiet. I’ve got him on Succeed and will keep him on it until???

Rusty is the horse that never did engage in mutual grooming - he was invited time and time again by Streeter and Joker, all he did was bite them. So I think he can go it alone, at least for awhile.

He would call to Joker when Joker disappeared on him, when they were separated, but he clearly understands Joker is not coming out from around the barn this time.

Mom always told me that “a watchpot never boils”. I decided to just stop looking for a companion for Rusty, because I’m not running all over creation and Rusty does seem to be doing ok. However, my conscience at leaving him alone at night continues to bother me.

So, having a strong theocratic background anyway, and being retired in the South, I have done what all good Southerners do, I prayed about it.

Turns out Duncan’s owner has been doing the same thing - praying about finding him a nice retirement home east of the Mississippi.

His owner & her husband divide their time between Middle Tennessee and Southern California and would rather he was here. He is at a place where there are 400 (yes that’s four hundred horses) and he is stalled 22 hours daily when she isn’t there to get him out. His stall is 12 x 24 but still — he can’t be a horse and that is not how she wants him to live out his life.

We hit it off right away, when she came to the farm for us to interview each other. Lovely lovely woman who wants the best for this horse’s last years but in the predicament of business taking her back and forth, so not having the property nor the time to do manage Duncan’s last years herself.

This is Duncan, a 24 yr old Warmblood, who was a winning H/J horse in his younger years. He is the same height as Rusty, in good health, barefoot, and very gentle natured. Duncan looks small framed for a Warmblood but then my knowledge of them is slim. I had taken him more for an Appendix bred QH, which the owner said he has been mistaken for one.

Duncan’s passage is booked but the shipper has to wait for a full load, so it may be 7-10 days before he gets here. He will arrive at a drop point outside Shelbyville, where I will pick him up as a semi could never in this lifetime get up my road. Pickup time could be anywhere from 2:00 AM forward, lollol. Good thing DH has my trailer back together.

The owner shared videos of him round penning at liberty and he seems to be very calm and good natured. My big thing will be getting him acclimated to pasture. She doesn’t think he has ever seen a real grass pasture.

weeedlady said:

I might have missed it, but how did you and Duncan's owner find each other? You prayed, she prayed, but then what?

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Horse people in my county seem to know things, even if one isn't in their venue or their circle. I got a phone call to check with the horse retirement home that I didn't even know was here, and she is only ten miles from me, lol. That it was "heard" she had a waiting list & maybe there might be a horse on there for my criteria. I called, the young lady was very warm on the phone and said she would check thru her waiting list to see if there was someone who matched my criteria. She was talking to her mom about it and her mom asked her what was wrong with "my horse in California?', lollol

I had already texted fotos of this property and the barn to the daughter so she would know I wasn't someone with raggedy barbed wire fence and my horse wasn't living in a sea of mud. The next day the daughter called me with her mom's proposal to "adopt" Duncan to me and she would pay for his shipping. I asked her to please come and see the barn & farm before making any decisions as the daughter's horse retirement facility is really upscale and is mostly high dollar ex-show horses whose owners have a conscience.

The mom had already booked passage with a transport company but her daughter convinced to her to physically visit anyway, lollol.

Which, BTW, here's the name of the transport company they use and speak very highly of. The mom said these people really do care about every horse on the the van. They will overnight half way from CA to TN and I think get the horses off the van. Look at that rig. My road doesn't even have enough room for it to turn off the county road and start up my road, lollol.

KC Horse Transport, Inc. | USA

Hopefully they have done enough business with this company that the shipping fee is locked in - since the price of fuel may go into the outer stratosphere sooner than later. A sidebar to that is farmers that were interviewed on the Agri Business segment of RFD-TV said the price of fuel, fertilizer, and whatever else it takes to raise crops has already tripled in some areas. Duncan's owner said they can still get timothy hay at the barn but it is $37/bale - bales out there are 115-125 pounds but $37 is enough to make one choke when writing the check and it could go higher. Being a savvy business woman that's likely another reason for wanting to get Duncan out of California and find him a nice grass pasture east of the Mississippi.

We had a wonderful two hour visit which could have lasted longer but the daughter has 16 horses at her facility and does much of the work herself. We talked about horse prices. In her mom's show world in SoCal, chump change is $30,000. 60K is more like it for a winning horse. She said even retired horses that are still useable can go for 30K but that wasn't what she wanted for Duncan, because she felt he had paid dues, won a lot in his prime, and that was good enough.

So there ya have it Weeed! "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it",

Duncan’s owner is very conscientious about keeping me updated. His tentative travel date is March 24th or 25th, dependent on the transport company.

She also sent me a foto of Duncan in his hey day, being ridden by his then teenage owner. I commented Duncan is too precisely trained for me to get on him and she replied all she ever did with him was W/T/C.

I think I’ve been saying Duncan is 24? Thankfully he is older, lollol. He was born 12-24-96 which makes him 26 this year.

Still-in-all, riding a retired H/J & possibly Dressage is not even close to managing a horse sliding down a riverbank & swimming to the other side🥴🥴

Duncan in his younger days. I’m not smart enough to know how high he is jumping in this picture — hopefully he doesn’t get any ideas about jumping my four foot fencing😳😳