she laid down she wouldn’t get back up without incentive.”
Despite her weakened state, Hootie refused to give up
on her. Horses are herd animals, so his instinct should
have been to stay with the herd, but he would not leave
without Fancy. “He would come to the back of the barn
and just hang his head over and wait until she was gone
or when she came out … . Even if the herd went out he
wouldn’t leave her. He would stay.” Rain or shine Hootie
would stand outside of the barn waiting for his friend.
They had a “closer attachment than I’ve ever seen with
any of the other horses,” Teresa said.
Eight months into Fancy’s retirement, the Stars and
Strides team made the difficult decision to put her down.
Teresa and the team were afraid that one day Fancy
would no longer be able to get up. They didn’t want to
take the chance of her laying out in the pasture in pain
with no one to help her.
“When we took her, he [Hootie] was very upset.
He just ran up and down the fence line, and when we
brought the trailer back he went on looking for her.” He,
just like the Stars and Strides team, understood she was
getting weaker. Hootie was afraid that if Fancy got in the
trailer he might never get to see his best friend again. A
few days later “we brought another horse in a trailer and
he just ran up carrying on looking for her, thinking we
had brought her back,” Teresa said.
He continued like this for several more days, constantly looking for and awaiting the return of his friend Fancy.
“Hootie took Fancy’s death really hard,” a member
of the Stars and Strides team said. He is broken up about
the loss of his friend but is starting to understand that she
is never coming back. To ease his sorrow, the Stars and
Strides team has placed him in Fancy’s stall to comfort
him with the old scent of Fancy. Eventually he will understand that she is gone, but for now he will continue to
mope around in mourning for his friend.
Hootie and Fancy’s infrangible friendship was able to
last even after Fancy had died. Hootie refused to give up
the hope that his friend would come back to him someday.
Courtney riding Fancy
Dr. Sweatt • Dr. McLeod • Dr. Hutchins
8283 FM 920 • Weatherford, Texas • 817-458-3355
AUGUST 2016 PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
EQUINE • LIVESTOCK
CANINE • FELINE
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