# Davey Boy



## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

Just wanted to post a little memorial for my friend's dear horse who passed away a little while ago.....


Davey was the sweetest thing on 4 legs. We don't know exactly what he was but he looked like a redish roany arabian/QH mix. This horse carried my friend's daughter from the time she was 8 to when she was 11.(not a long time but their bond was as strong as if they had known each other forever). They were amazing at the horse shows we go to(we ride western games) and he was an amazing team penner. We thought he was twenty three at the time. Even after he developed really bad arthritis in both front legs and ringbone in his one front leg he would still try to push himself for her. He had a heart of gold and would walk through fire for this girl. Well then he started dropping weight (at this point he as doing only light gaming no team penning) and we thought it was because he was getting a bit older so we upped his feed and gave him weightbuilder. He continued to drop weight like MAD it was so sad to see. He still had a fire burning in his eyes but this was when we decided that my friend's daughter would have to stop riding him. So he was put out to retirement in his field with his blind companion whom he lived with all the time. By that summer he had dropped so much weight and we were at a loss for gaining it back we tried EVERYTHING. My friend knew he wouldn't last the winter and since there was nothing else they could do to put the weight back on him they knew the kindest thing to do for Davey would be to put him to sleep. They called the vet and set a day for two days later. He was pampered big time in those days he got treats and brushing multiple times and he still had that fire in his eyes. But his legs were so stiff now,from the ringbone and arthritis, that he wouldn't lay down(we hadn't seen him laying down for about 2 weeks) so it had to be done we couldn't let this amazing horse suffer anymore. The day was a nice sunny day and Davey spent his last moments with his "girlfriend"the blind horse for a little while. My friend's daughter went to her grandmoms and my friend stood there with him. The vet finally arrived and my friend put the blind horse in her stall while it was being done. She stroked him as the vet put the needle in and was with him to his last breath. She said it was horrible his legs were so stiff it took him a while to lay down from the first shot(a relaxer so he wouldnt fall to the ground) After the lethal dose the vet checked for a heartbeat and he was gone... my friend said he had the fire in his eyes till the very end. My friend began to walk to the blind horses stall to bring her out to say her last goodbyes(and they say its more comforting to let the companion horse smell the other so they know what happened plus she was blind and we didn't want her freaking out if he didn't show up anymore he was with her before she went blind) As she did she was talking to the vet and he said i dont know how u kept that horse alive for so long. She gave him a weird look and said he had only been dropping weight for a few months. He said that he was talking about the horse's age. She kind of laughed and said he was only 23. The vet gave her a weird look and walked back over to Davey and lifted his lip to check his teeth. Then he turned around and told my friend that Davey was in his very late thirties maybe around 40. My friend was shocked and told the vet the previous owner told her he was 20 when they got him. Anyway my friend brought the blind horse out who smelled him then kind of noticably dragged her feet back to the field. She called to him for DAYS and seemed to mope around and almost completely stopped eating. We don't know what happened but one day, afew weeks later, she seemed like her old happy self. We like to believe he let her know that he's okay because ive heard of horses starving themselves to death after a pasture buddy had died and we didn't want that to happen to her. it seemed like it then one night she did a complete 360. The blind horse is going strong at 35. We all still miss him very much and we couldnt believe a horse that old continued to to so many things. and he looked great the first two and a half years then everything went downhill quick. We all miss him and love him dearly and every time i look at his picturei can see that tell tale fire that i only ever saw in him. I believe it was a drive to live life to the fullest.



R.I.P Davey Boy we all miss you so much.


p.s sorry it was so longjust wanted to pay tribute to a very special boy

I wish i could find a picture of him in his hayday he was amazing ill try to find one and post it.


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## horses4life43 (Nov 8, 2009)

Oh he sounds like such a sweet boy. 40? Seriously? WOW!


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

horses4life43 said:


> Oh he sounds like such a sweet boy. 40? Seriously? WOW!


thats what the vet said and we couldn't believe it either. We didnt know his exact age from the start because he didn't have papers. And he was such a sweetie we couldn't believe that in his old age(that we now know of) he pushed himself so hard and got 22sec barrel runs (our course is bigger at our shows the average run is between 19 and 23 secs).


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## BarneyBabby (Nov 18, 2008)

well even if you did push him hard, if it didnt seem to bother him then it didnt matter! Haha my friend had a horse that lived to 49. I was shocked because he acted like he was a youngster. He ran around the field like he was a two year old and could show up all the younger horses. He had to be put down because he broke his leg. Just think, if he didn't break his leg how long he would have lasted!!


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## Phantomcolt18 (Sep 25, 2007)

BarneyBabby said:


> well even if you did push him hard, if it didnt seem to bother him then it didnt matter! Haha my friend had a horse that lived to 49. I was shocked because he acted like he was a youngster. He ran around the field like he was a two year old and could show up all the younger horses. He had to be put down because he broke his leg. Just think, if he didn't break his leg how long he would have lasted!!


 
WOW 49!!!!! That is amazing. They say if an animal is happy they will try to stay around as long as they can. haha. My boy is 22 and he acts like he's a young horse. He prances coming out of the arena like "oh yea top that"


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