Saying Good Bye...

From Jim: The vet is coming today. We'll have three horses' teeth floated. We will also euthanize Maggie and Tiger Lily. It is incredibly hard for us. Maggie was a feral mini-mule we rescued out of Berry Creek. She's way old now-45 or so. We had her for 5 years. She never overcame her fear/dislike of people but she was happy here and had her equine friends. We admired her toughness and spirit. Tiger Lily is a very old Kiger Mustang. She had lost an eye in an accident and was going to be shot as she was deemed to be worthless. She has been a sweet wonderful mare, as her kind tend to be. She's now unable to hold her weight and her suspensory ligaments are failing, down at the fetlocks. It's their time. We know it. We hate it. The sanctuary is absolutely dedicated to the issue of quality of life. We're here for the animals, not for us. That's a tough proposition some days. We feel that to truly offer a full quality of life to each animal, they must be loved and cared for as the pets they are. Their days need the security and attention that brings them peace. They need the standard of care they would have at any loving home. That means we make an emotional investment in each of them. We know them and their loss really hurts. There will be tears today. It's fitting that we cry, because it's a way to say how wonderful they were. Their souls have touched ours. We'll say goodbye and they will have the last gift of kindness we can give them. Dr. Darling will share our sadness. He's a very kind man. Today will be hard. There will be more hard days ahead. It's what we do.