08/24/2024
So, here is the post that I promised everyone regarding Yukon and what happened. Enough time has passed that I feel like I can talk about it openly. It’s still so painful to look out into the pasture and not see him there as well as looking at my tack and seeing everything that was specifically his. It’s gonna be a long post, so bear with me.
July 27th was a Saturday and we were getting ready for our farrier to come out and trim Yukon and Willow. He gets here and I pulled Willow out first. All goes well and then once I put her up and called for Yukon, he was nowhere to be seen. He ALWAYS came to me when I called for him, so I was immediately worried. I walked the pasture and didn’t see him and then as I turned to go behind the shop, there he was. Relief. He was standing over the water trough which I thought nothing about because he’s always been my water horse. I haltered him and brought him out to our farrier and I started noticing that Yukon was not acting himself. He was extremely lethargic and had the droopy lower lip thing going on like he’d been given sedatives (which, he hadn’t.) Koda finished up his trim and I decided to spend a little extra time with Yukon. It had been miserably hot here for a while so I thought maybe he just needed a good hose down. While it was obvious he was enjoying it, I was not convinced that something wasn’t wrong. I got my thermometer out and took his temp…..normal. Really?! My gut still said something’s wrong. I started calling vets. Nobody was available or could come to the house. Panic has now set in as I’m watching Yukon dunk his entire face into the trough with his mouth wide open over and over again. I finally get ahold of a vet that was at his clinic for another hour and a half but said I had to haul him in. So I threw Yukon in that trailer and off we went. We get there and they immediately started taking vitals and doing a physical check. Nothing. They suggested he could be choking and decided to tube him. Most traumatic thing ever for me and I ended up having to look away because they hit a blood vessel while tubing him and poor Yukie was bleeding like crazy and making these horrific choking noises. That’s when my tears started. I knew this wasn’t looking good. No choke. So we decided to run blood work. 15 minutes later, my world shattered as I was given the news that Yukon was in full blown kidney failure. So bad, that hospitalization and aggressive treatment wouldn’t save him.
He was FINE 24 hours prior to this! Running the pasture and being his normal self.
I brought him home and luckily the vet told me to call him when I was ready and he would come to our place to put Yukon down.
At this point, we knew Willow couldn’t be alone. She would absolutely lose her mind, so we pulled the trigger on Bandit. He belonged to our cousin and he agreed to sell him to us. Mike and Doug went to go pick Bandit up and I spent my last few moments with Yukie.
Bandit gets here and Willow went into full defense mode knowing that Yukon was sick and she “protected” him from Bandit. Even kicked a gate off its hinges! Poor Bandit. He didn’t know what to do with himself.
The vet came out and all was down. We brought Willow to him so she could see him and have closure. It was an awful day that started out just like any other and then turned into a nightmare.
I am going to miss my mustang everyday. He was so incredibly special to me and I can’t believe our time together was cut so short. However, I’m so happy that I got to spend the last 10 years with him. He was such a special boy and was a vital member of our family. His passing has affected us all.
So, with all of that said…..
I’d like to introduce everyone to Bandit, our new horse family member.
He’s a sweet Tennessee Walker gelding and Willow has warmed up to him finally. She’s definitely boss-mare and pushes the poor dude around, but she was taught by the best….Yukon.
