Thunder died tonight?

Question

For those of you who read my story about the little abused horse I took in another question. He died a few hours ago, my fault I work pla around with him in the round pen almost every evening, I left him alone to go water a tree and he stuck his head through the a corral panel and got his halter hung on a pin that connects the pannels. He panicked ulled back and ost his footing and fell hard on his side, and broke his neck. Everyone please feel free to tell me what a bad mistake I made, God knows ive been telling myself that since it happened.

I am beating my self hard over this one I never leave the halters on when they are un attended in the round pens. The one time I do This happened and so damn fast one minute im playing with my little buddy and 2 minutes later he is dead. on the entire round pen there was 1 pin he could hang on.

I think the hardest part of this is going to be the kids that come out and ride him and seeing him loving all the attention he gets from them.
and Thunder was with just about every waking hour LOL if I was working in the barn I could let him go and he would follow me around watching everything I did. (I will even confess he was my one exception to the no treats rule, He wouldnt touch a carrot or a apple but he went nuts for cabbage)

Thanks for so many kind words, I suspose if nothing somes of thisother than someone else reading it and saying O I DIDNT KNOW THAT, or another old horse owner like me that knows better (yes I knew better and I got lazy if only for a few minutes, It would have taked 30 seconds to take the halter off)
Its a new day and passing Thunders stall this morning feeding was hard. The whole farm seems empty today, the 15 month old filly Thunder always turned out with and has been stalled next to called for him all night and has paced their pasture calling to him all morning. The farm is a lesser place today, we will move on and I will never forget my little T Boom, I never realized how strong of a bond we had until he was gone, I never realized how many lives Thunder had touched until this morning Two of the kids that were going to ride him today Came out with their moms anyway this morning and put Cards and flowers on his stall, He wasnt just my pony he was everyones.

Answer 1

*hugs*

Accidents happen man. You realize what went wrong and I'm sure you won't make that mistake again. We learn from our mistakes and Lord knows, I have made plenty. I was just blessed that it never hurt my animals.

I'm not going to beat you up because we all do it.

I'm just sorry for all your pain.

Answer 2

My apologies! This certainly was an accident, don't blame yourself. I wish we could pass the word around more, a couple weeks ago I posted a warning on halters and panels. There are so many horses that are injured do to this. I think the market in a whole needs to do a better job providing warnings on their items. You can buy equipment all over the place for horses... how often do you see with an instruction manual? I don't want to place blame on the makers, but truly, that is where my anger lies. Everyone should have access to this sort of information, from them, when we buy the equipment instead of having to learn the hard way and in your scenario, worse. Again, I'm very sorry!!!

Answer 3

Hey man, it's ok. Well, I mean, it's really not ok, but, it wasn't your fault. I'm really sorry about "T Boom". I read your post about him in the "Who was your favorite horse?" and it really touched me. I think we should all just be glad that he got to have a couple years in a place where people loved him and took care of him, an dhe got to die at such a wonderful place.
This question also alerted me to the dangers of what can happen leaving haltered horses outside- the barn where I ride right now does, and they have never had a problem, however, when I get my own farm, I will think twice befor eturning out haltered horses.
Sorry again. You're in my prayers.
HorseJumper

Answer 4

I am so sorry to hear (read) about your loss. I am a huge animal lover and know that losing any of them is such a big hit to your heart. They truly are family members. Don't be too hard on yourself - it's a mistake that anyone could have made. I know that you will never be able to replace him, but know that some part of him will always be with you. Maybe you can have a special memorial to him in the barn - it doesn't have to be big, just a picture to remind you every time you're there of just how loved he was. I wish you the best of luck in your emotial time of need. My horse somehow cut herself kind of bad about a week ago - I stayed all through the vet's visit - fighting not to pass out from watching the surgery. I was so scared for her, even though I knew she would be okay. It's really nerve-wracking having animals sometimes because you worry about them like you would worry about a child. I know that a lot of us are here for you - keep your chin up.

Answer 5

I see horses out in pastures with old cars, razor wire, batteries, leg breaker size holes etc.... & for some reason I rarely hear about an injury. But God forbid you spend time and energy to care and do the right thing by your horses by providing them with as safe an environment as possible, & it is a freak accident that takes them.

You are sad and upset b/c you care. I am so sorry for your loss, but if the horse community had more people like you, who cared we would be much better off. Horses are curious animals, it's part of their charm, but its also what gets them into trouble sometimes. I lost my arab that I had had for the last 25 years to a severe colic, he sounded a lot like your Thunder. I feel your pain. Mourning is tough, but there will be another soul that needs you. Don't let this accident keep you from that, or let you doubt your skills. Take care

Answer 6

Mate, you cant be too hard on yourself. These things do, unfortunately happen. Its sad that thunder died, but to be truthful, he went quickly ... which is good. You'll miss him, because you were fond of him which means he had a good life once he found you. To be perfectly honest with you mate, leaving a halter on in a pen isnt even a mistake in my book. I quite often leave them on, particularly in round yards. A stud a worked in a while back actually left them on indefiantly as identification. Its an accident. Horses can be quite silly. They panick. It could very easily not have happened, but it did, and its not your fault. My horse broke his leg while I was riding him a few years ago. I miss the bloke terrrrrribly, but what can I do?? Not much. Bury him ... say a few words, miss him, and dont forget. You will be a better person because of this. It will never happen again.

Answer 7

It was a bad mistake, but that's all it was. A mistake. We all make mistakes with ourselves and our pets, most of the time we survive the mistakes. Too bad it didn't happen that way for you. I appreciate that you passed on the story, perhaps you'll save someone else's horse by sharing the experience. I see horses in pastures with trees, etc all the time wearing halters, and I'm baffled how the manage to survive!
My big mistake this year was leaving my young miniature pony tied to my hitching post while I went for a ride on my show mare. The pony was fussing and I wanted her to practice being tied. What I hadn't considered was the fact that she could walk under the hitching post, which my big horses obviously couldn't do.
When I was gone from sight she walked under the hitching rail and then went around and around the one post until she had tightened up her rope so snug she could barely breath. When I got back she was still on her feet, but she was gasping for breath. I had to cut the halter off her face as she was pulling hard and I couldn't get her to come forward. She rubbed skin off her face, and had a nose bleed, but she survived totally fine. I still tie her to the hitching post, but I will NEVER leave her behind out of sight again.
She could have easily died and I would have been to blame. But it was an accident, just as yours was too.
Take care and enjoy your horses. We never know how long we'll have them.

Answer 8

Mike, Please stop blaming yourself !!!! It was an ACCIDENT, nothing more. You didn't deliberately set out to kill Thunder- you made an unfortunate mistake. We ALL make them- Lord knows, I've made plenty in my time. Leaving a halter on a horse that's turned out is something I have seen lots of people do- indeed, I used to work at a facility where it was AGAINST the rules for ANY HORSE to be turned out without one- and these animals LIVED outside year round. To my knowledge, there has never been an accident there of this type- but they are pressing their luck in a lot of ways by continuing to have this policy in place. Sooner or later, one or more of their horses is going to get a halter caught on a tree, a fencepost, a gate, one of the stall doors, or the like, and someone on the horse staff will walk outside one morning and find the animal lying dead. Hopefully, it will happen in a place that's out of sight of the children and the public, but who knows- it may wind up being very visible.

You have learned an important lesson the hard way- and I know only too well what that is like. I have been there myself, as have we all. I am deeply sorry that you are experiencing such pain. I can relate a similar experience which happened about 7 years ago- one of my sister's polo horses decided one night that he wanted to play with our yearling gelding in the next field. What he didn't count on was the T-posts on the fence between the two fields- as he went across the fence to play with his buddy, one of the posts penetrated his abdomen up near his hind leg, causing massive internal bleeding. He lay that way for hours ( it was about 2 in the morning when he did what he did) until our neighbor noticed him lying down when she went to walk her dog. She was alarmed, so she called us- and when I went outside that morning about 5 am, I hadn't taken 3 steps before I heard him give a last, agonized whinny. He died a few minutes later, of blood loss and shock. There was nothing anyone could do except stand and cry. Now, I had known about the hazards associated with T-posts- there was a REASON we always put caps on the ones at the place I mentioned a moment ago- but for reasons I can't explain, I never got around to sharing that information with my sister until it was too late. This beautiful horse ( his name was Zeke) DIED because of my neglect- and I have ALWAYS blamed, and will continue to blame, myself, to a degree. ( Even had we been alerted to the accident earlier, there was really nothing we could have done- Zeke needed emergency surgery, and the closest facility for that was about 5 hours away. In the condition he was in, the likelyhood of his surviving the trip would have been virtually nil.)

So, I can say that I understand what you are experiencing- I have been there myself. After the accident, after Zeke was buried on the back of the property ( at the far end of the pasture where he'd gotten himself killed) we put caps on all the T-posts. Another lesson learned the hard way.There has never been another horse like Zeke- he was unique and very special in a lot of ways. I don't know why these things happen, and sometimes I think that maybe we humans aren't supposed to know. If God wanted us to know, He would give us the means to understand them.

I know you will miss Thunder- and be assured, he misses you, too. The Rainbow Bridge, which is where he is now, is a great place- he has the strength he knew as a colt, and there is no pain or sorrow there. If you want to read the poem that tells the story of the Bridge, just type RainbowBridge.org into your computer, and it will come up. Thunder is waiting there for you- and one day, you will be with him again. You did a lot for him when he was here- you got him out of that awful place he was in, you loved and cared for him, and gave him your heart and a home. That's probably more than he ever got from anyone else in his life. I take comfort myself from knowing that Zeke is up there as well- who knows, maybe he and Thunder will get to see each other and play together. So when you really start missing Thunder, just picture him running free up at the Bridge, and doing all the things he loves best.

Good luck to you, "hugs", and I am so sorry for your loss. It's a tragedy, I know, but remember that it's also an ACCIDENT.

Answer 9

Mike I'm sorry to hear about your pal. It's hard to hear accidents happen in a case like this but that is the way of it. Don't expect me to tell you what a bad person you are - there are far worse people out there that ruin good horses into idiots and then sell them off to another idiot without a clue. What happend to Thunder is a tragedy and I believe that you do feel bad about it but beating yourself up over it won't change what's happened and moreover - I'm sure you're a pretty good daddy to your chums.

Answer 10

It wasn't on purpose, you made a mistake, we all do that. I've left halters on in the arena while turning out without thinking, left for a minute, and five seconds later come racing back to take the halter off so something like that doesn't happen. You just weren't lucky enough to remember, which ******* sucks but it doesn't change the fact that he's dead and you're going to beat yourself up over it no matter what I say. So I'll just repeat the message everyone else is trying to give, it IS NOT YOUR FAULT, and I'm really really sorry.

Answer 11

It's not your fault.Mistakes and accidents happen.I lost a dog in December because she got through a broken fence. I never found her.I tried to fix the fence so my other dogs couldn't get out,and thought I had,but in June,the dog's sister got out,and I never found her,either.I put fliers up ,called shelters and vets and spent over 200.00 in putting ads in the paper,but I never found her,either.I know she went looking for her sister,they were 13 years old and loved each other..... I should have had someone come to fix the fence properly,but I didn't have the money. I made a mistake and lost my dogs.I feel bad about it everyday,but really,we can't always know what is going to happen,We think our animals are safe,and then some weird thing happens.I've had dogs for 47 years and never had one get lost,and then in the span of 6 months,two of them go missing and are never found. People take their eyes of their kids for a minute and a stranger grabs them or a car hits them.Terrible accidents happen.You can't blame yourself forever.At least you gave the horse a better life,if only for a while. I'm sorry about the horse,but don't blame yourself.There are other horses out there who need rescuing.Hop to it!