52 Photos Project: Someone You Love

I am sure when 52 Photos Project chose Someone You Love for this week, the expectation was mostly people.  Maybe a few dogs.  This is Becca.  She was not my first horse; we still have three others.  She died today.  It was not unexpected; I planned it. 

Becca is....was a cribber.  But she had come up with an alternate method long before I ever got her.  She would rub her throat against the top board of the fence, repeatedly.  For hours & hours every day.  We tried everything to discourage her, but not much helped.  We could limit it, with collars & distractions, but we could not make her stop completely. 

Earlier this year, she gave herself a hematoma.  & while it was not an infection in itself, she continued to rub that swelling against the fence until she created a groove in it.  Recently that raw, torn flesh has become infected.  I have done my best with the small wounds, pulling splinters out & keeping the area clean, but last week I saw that the groove had become so deep it was forming a pocket & that is the end.  There is nothing I can do to make her stop, there is nothing I can do to treat the wound that she doesn't undo.  She is an old horse, & she has been peacefully retired for years.  This afternoon, we put her to sleep.