Saying Goodbye to Poppy
On July 1, 2020, Poppy came to be with HNH. Her body ached from the heavy weight and wear of neglect, but her gentleness warmed any that met her. Poppy, though kind and sweet, was unfortunately very ill.
The damaging nature of irresponsible breeding and inadequate care had consumed Poppy for the complete duration of her sort eight years of life. Her owner had many mares and stallions free-breeding in his fields for decades. And over the years, after Poppy came a long, the herd dwindled, and only one remained, her. Her tremors and wonky walk, caused her to come back time and time again. As trials failed more often, the hands she passed became less frequent. Her body became even heavier and her hooves curled up. By the time a good soul found her, she knew that someone needed to give her the help she couldn’t give and the owner was about ready to put her down, even though she had never seen the vet. This is where HNH stepped in, even if it was just o give her grace and love while she left this world.
Poppy was the product of neglect. She wasn’t what you’d expect to see. Her ribs didn’t protrude. She didn’t flee away from your touch. But, she was suffering—obese, uncared for, and left to fend for herself. We brought her to two separate vets to evaluate her comfort levels. She wasn’t in any pain, but Poppy’s tremors hid a sad reality, she was extremely neurological. So, we didn’t spoil her, we gave her what she had always deserved—care, love, attention, a friend and an advocate. She played, was given vet care, put on a diet and most importantly, adored.
Before on bottom. After on top (don’t worry, we got a good groom session in that day).
Poppy was humanly euthanized on August 9th, following an evaluation that re-diagnosed her as severely neurologic. If you could put it on a scale, she was 7/10, considered dangerous to herself, people and other horses. Poppy was completely unaware of where the back right leg was, barely knew where the other three were, and the vet determined that she had long compensated for what her body didn’t know by fumbling through her movements. With the stories of her health in mind, the vet assumes that as a foal, she fevered out of a virus like West Nile, causing brain damage. Had her owner noticed, over seven years ago, a sick little filly needing help, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation.
HNH Family, thank you for allowing us to advocate for her. Thank you for funding her care and allowing us to give her dignity, compassion and love in her final days. She did not leave this world alone and without a kiss on that little bay face. We all wish we had more time with her, but sometimes in rescue, it is a privilege simply to give what we can and help them move on to their next destination.
In her honor, The HNH Sanctuary will be launching an informational series on social media, covering the importance of ethical breeding and, later, the basics of horse ownership. Domestic horses are here because of humans. It is our responsibility as horsefolk to limit the possibility of another sad story like Poppy’s.
If your donations have been going to the aid and care of Poppy, we encourage you to email us with how you’d like your donation to fund HNH moving forward. In September, we will transition any Poppy donations to our general care fund, SO important as we move our sanctuary herd closer to home for the winter. Our mission of compassion and empathy through rescue, continues on to advocate and support horses just like Poppy—the ones that we got to what feels like too late, but really was, right in time.
The HNH Sanctuary also plans to create a membership page that will provide members with free and paid for training videos. With the loss of Poppy, we realize that the basics of horsemanship have developed over the years and we must give vital information in short, sweet and digestible messages to those willing to learn and better themselves as human partners.