Two more anniversaries

In addition to being my favorite month, October is also a month of anniversaries, some good, some less so. Last week, we celebrated one of the good ones: Darcy's thirteenth Gotcha Day.

This one wasn't a given. As recently as six months ago, I thought the end was nigh.

Then I went to Sacramento and spent some time with my older sister, who is a retired pharmacist. I told her about my concerns for Darcy, and she asked about her medications. That led to a consultation with my vet and some serious adjustments to Darcy's care plan.

It turns out most of Darcy's "old age symptoms" were actually reactions to being overmedicated. She's still an old dog, but she is doing so much better. I am cautiously optimistic that we will celebrate at least a couple more Gotcha Days. 

Good girl, Darcy, and thank you, Colleen!

The next anniversary also has a medication component, but this one does not have a happy ending. Two years ago this Friday, I said goodbye to one of my all time favorite horses.

For just over three years, Diana's best boy, Stealth, was my most regular ride. 

He was a strong, healthy, twenty two year old Arabian that rode like a horse half his age.

I loved seeing the world through his ears.

I thought he would live forever.

And he might have had he not injured himself in his stall two years ago yesterday. It was not a serious matter, but he was sore, so his owner gave him a gram of bute. One little gram. We've all done that. It's like taking ibuprofen for a headache. No big deal.

Except for Stealth it was.

Within a day, he was in kidney failure. There's no real long term treatment for that, not in horses anyway. Arrangements were made, but not before his friends banded together to give him the best, last days. 

Since he wasn't interested in hay or grain, we took him for walks and let him graze. I figured a horse who spent most of his life living next to a golf course deserved to eat golf course grass at least once. 

No surprise, he liked that a lot.

The next day, he was gone.

October is the best month, but some of its memories are hard ones. Today, tomorrow and the next day, I'll be thinking of Stealth.