Jaeger's Jean
To live on a farm is to know the lives, and deaths, of many small souls.
Today Jaeger’s Jean, our old Morgan horse, died of colic. She was a descendent of Justin Morgan’s horse and a brood mare that birthed eleven foals. After Jean stopped baring the lady that owned her couldn't really afford to keep her, so we adopted her.
The colic that killed her was indirectly brought on by her weight problem. Jean always put on weight in the spring, and sometime in the fall, which made her tend to founder. It’s a painful condition of the hoof (usually the front) that is most often caused by diet (too much grain or an over lush pasture). Jean only had one bad bout of founder – in that case she often simply lay down most of the day. The answer to this condition was to use a muzzle to cut her back on grazing – she hated it. The change in her eating routine very likely caused the colic.
When Jean first came to live with us she was alone, she lived on our farm for over a year without seeing another horse. Horses are herd animals and they hate to be alone. She could hear other horses in the distance, and would call to them from time to time, but could never see them.
I didn’t realize the depth of her loneliness until Moses came to live with us. The horse trailer he arrived in wouldn’t fit around the hairpin turn on our hill, so we had to unload and walk him down to the farm. The moment Jean saw Moses she went wild. She was calling to him and running around the field as if she were 10 instead of 25. Moses, an old school horse, didn’t care; he was sizing up the menu – our field.
When we got Moses to the field gate, Jean was so worked up that we were hesitant to put them together. We gave them a few minutes and then let Moses in. He slowly trotted to the center of the field. Jean, on the other hand, was so excited that she ran wildly after him, slipped on a patch of wet grass and actually fell on her face – the only time I’ve ever seen a horse do that. Moses started eating and she calmed down right away. They were fast friends for many years.
The colic that killed her was indirectly brought on by her weight problem. Jean always put on weight in the spring, and sometime in the fall, which made her tend to founder. It’s a painful condition of the hoof (usually the front) that is most often caused by diet (too much grain or an over lush pasture). Jean only had one bad bout of founder – in that case she often simply lay down most of the day. The answer to this condition was to use a muzzle to cut her back on grazing – she hated it. The change in her eating routine very likely caused the colic.
When Jean first came to live with us she was alone, she lived on our farm for over a year without seeing another horse. Horses are herd animals and they hate to be alone. She could hear other horses in the distance, and would call to them from time to time, but could never see them.I didn’t realize the depth of her loneliness until Moses came to live with us. The horse trailer he arrived in wouldn’t fit around the hairpin turn on our hill, so we had to unload and walk him down to the farm. The moment Jean saw Moses she went wild. She was calling to him and running around the field as if she were 10 instead of 25. Moses, an old school horse, didn’t care; he was sizing up the menu – our field.
When we got Moses to the field gate, Jean was so worked up that we were hesitant to put them together. We gave them a few minutes and then let Moses in. He slowly trotted to the center of the field. Jean, on the other hand, was so excited that she ran wildly after him, slipped on a patch of wet grass and actually fell on her face – the only time I’ve ever seen a horse do that. Moses started eating and she calmed down right away. They were fast friends for many years.
