Miss Olena Chic (Mocha) March 18, 2000-September 1, 2025
Sep. 2nd, 2025 12:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
When you commit to owning a horse for their whole life, you know that there's going to be That Day happening at some point.
Sometimes That Day is a day early, sometimes it's a day late.
And sometimes That Day just happens Right Now. Not when you want it, not when you've planned, but...it just slaps you hard, right in the face, that this has to be The Day.
That day was yesterday for the horse of my heart, Miss Olena Chic (Mocha), who I had owned for twenty years. I had already discussed the need to put her down this fall because she just wasn't going to do well in the coming winter. Held that discussion with the vet, the ranch owners, and my husband. We'd agreed that she would have one last good summer (hopefully), eating grass, hanging out in one of her favorite fields, having time with Her Gelding, getting lots of treats and being loved on. Which was happening.
I knew things were going downhill. The bone spurs on her problematic right knee were starting to make the cannon bone (big bone between the knee and hoof in a horse's foreleg) twist noticeably this last week. But she was still getting around, and was even managing to canter-hobble when I called her for grain, treats, and attention (oh, was she ever holding her head high and proud those days when she figured out how to canter with that bad knee). Then it became a trot, then a walk, and then...yesterday.
She had taken to standing under a big willow in the front of the pasture she was in, especially if I was coming later than usual. So I wasn't surprised by that, or by the nicker she gave me. But then...she didn't come to her usual feeding spot. My heart sank because at that point I knew. I called her again, offered her an apple slice with the painkiller she's been on for the last few months and...she could barely walk. Her legs quivered with the effort. I coaxed her over, gave her grain and treats, and called the husband because it was clear that something had happened over the last twenty-four hours. She had been walking fine the day before, hanging out with a whitetail doe and her fawns.
No signs of stress, like she had been running and strained something. Just a little sweaty under her heavy mane, which was normal for her on a hot summer's day. I checked her water trough and she had been drinking from it. She was eating normally, acting normally, except...there were signs of a possible neurological issue.
You don't call the vet for a last-ditch treatment for this. Not for an old mare that the vet has already shaken his head as he says "no more winters." If you call the vet, it's euthansia time.
I went to the ranch. Burst into tears when I told the ranch owner's daughter and asked her for another pair of eyes in case I was wrong (she's Miss Rodeo Oregon 2026 and is very experienced in her own right). Her parents were out of town but almost back. Dez eyed Mocha and agreed, calling her parents. Something bad had happened. Jeffrey dropped Vixen off when they got to town and...more consensus. We decided to try to get her on a trailer and back to the ranch. While Mocha's never been that friendly with Vixen, she's always loaded well for her and--no hesitation, no problems. Thankfully.
Then the discussion at the ranch. Today or tomorrow? Gunshot or vet visit tomorrow? Thankfully, I'd already had that discussion with Jeffrey because they've dealt with a lot of older horses who need to be put down. The recommendation was gunshot because sometimes the euthanasia meds don't work as well with older horses, and they'll fight them, making those last few minutes awful and fearful for the horse. Mocha was a tough old girl--and I feared that she would fight it. So no, no vet. Tonight, because it was cooler and we all feared given the rapid progress of her deteroration that she would go down and not be able to get up, making things more complicated. She was already in pain, why put her through more?
She was happily eating hay in the trailer. I gave her the last peppermints while Vixen quickly braided her tail and clipped the braids so I would have a keepsake. Then it was watching the trailer and backhoe go out to the back field, and stand with Marker, waiting for the end. All the horses on the ranch were fussing and anxious because they knew something was up. Marker called to Mocha when the trailer went out. Then he stood while I cried on his neck (I'd cried on Mocha's neck in the trailer), nuzzling me and licking me.
We waited while Jeffrey dug the hole with the backhoe. Then the trailer headed back. Marker screamed and called as the trailer went by, fussing when there wasn't an answer. Shortly after, the final shot.
She was a fine horse. I'll write a little bit more about the twenty-five years I knew her at another time, because I had been around her from a foal, even though I didn't buy her until she was five. I have a big collection of ribbons she won at various shows, and a belt buckle she won. I have one of her shoes, a portion of one tooth, and the braids. Plus tack--some of which has not been repurposed for Marker--and pictures. She had been bred to be a show horse and did pretty darn good at it.
But right now there are still tears and an empty spot in my heart.