I loved Monkey from the moment I first saw him New Year's Day in 1998.
He stayed temporarily, under sad circumstances, at the barn where my horse
boarded. Another barn in town where he was in training had experienced a
devastating barn fire New Year's Eve. Monkey was one of only three horses
that survived. Because of that alone, I always knew that he had a special
purpose to fulfill.
I loved how laid back and
gentle he was, especially since he was only four at the time. I was used
to my older QH gelding who, although very sweet and gentle, still had a lot
of youngster spunk at the time, even though he was nine years old.
Monkey eventually returned
to his own barn once repairs were completed after the barn fire, and I forgot
about him until August of 1998, when his owner accepted a new training job
at my boarding barn, so Monkey returned again as a permanent resident. I
was fresh back from the AQHYA World Show, where I had just won a class, and
felt like I was on top of the world. I had always thought Western Pleasure
looked like fun (I had always shown hunter/jumpers), and decided to give
Pleasure a try, mostly to take a break from jumping. Never did I think that
it would lead me where it did.
Monkey was an incredible
Pleasure horse. Royally bred, he was out of the 1987 AQHA World Champion
Pleasure mare, Ima Triples Image, and sired by the great Mr Conclusion. He
had the pretty of a halter horse, with the movement of a World Champion pleasure
horse. Unfortunately, his genetics also cursed him with bad feet. Both his
sire and dam died from complications of laminitis, and Monkey seemed destined
for the same fate at an early age.
Monkey first foundered at
age 3. He was in training with a top Western Pleasure trainer at the time,
who failed to notify his owner, whom I eventually bought Monkey from, whom
also became my best friend and still is, that the horse had come up lame,
until two weeks after the fact. When she went to pick him up, his feet had
become grossly deformed, and the problem was obvious...he had foundered badly,
his coffin bones not only rotating, but sinking as well. His owner picked
him up, and went straight to the vet to find out if anything could help this
horse. The vet said he knew a local farrier that he thought could save him.
She immediately took him to this farrier, and he said that he thought he
could get the horse sound and was right. Within a year, Monkey had regained
soundness and began showing again, and shortly after beginning to show again,
I bought him.
I knew up front about all
of his foot problems. Many people thought I was crazy to buy this equine
time bomb, but I loved the horse and knew I would never be able to afford
a horse of his caliber, unless there was some sort of a compromise involved.
I began showing him in September of 1998 and he remained sound and showed
until April 2004. During his show career he earned 130 pleasure points in
youth, amateur, and open, as well as his Open Superior, all on feet that
vets said belonged to a dead horse.
Then in July 2004, the
trouble began. It all started with an abscess that had been recurring off
and on since January 2004. Monkey came up lame about a week before a big
show, and assuming that he had developed another small abscess, I wrapped
it up, and thought it would be fine by the show. Well, he had improved, so
we went ahead and took him to the show, but once there, it became quite obvious
that he was too lame to show. The show happened to be in the same town that
my farrier lived, so we hauled to the farrier so he could take a look at
him. He looked for a while and couldn't find anything, until he pared away
some sole. He hated to remove much on Monkey because of the founder, and
we found the big abscess that had been smoldering in there. We were happy,
it was only an abscess, wrapped it up, and thought he'd be able to show by
the last day of the four day show.
Well, the show
came and went and he was still lame. I kept wrapping it up with sugardine
to draw out the infection, but he did not get any more sound. As fate would
have it, he lost the shoe on the foot with the abscess (left front), so we
had to make an emergency trip to the farrier (anytime Monkey lost a shoe,
it was an emergency). We hauled to the farrier, were tacking it back on,
when we hit another abscess in the hoof wall. Back to polticing and wrapping
it up. Finally got the abscess out of there, shoe back on, but still Monkey
was lame. In September, x-rays confirmed our fears. Monkey's laminitis was
flaring up again. We think it was the polticing and wrapping that allowed
his sole to soften up enough that his coffin bone started to sink again.
Once the left foot got sore, the right one became inflamed again due to him
standing on it more.
By January 2005, both coffin
bones had begun to sink again. In a fit of desperation, I sent him to live
with my farrier. We hoped that constant supervision and more frequent treatment
could stop any further deterioration. For a time he improved, and we were
hopeful that he would be okay, maybe even start showing again. The relief
didn't last long. By July 2005, his coffin bones had sunk more, and were
now sitting an 1/8" from coming out his sole. I brought Monkey home from
the farriers, thinking it was time to let him go, but wanted to give it one
more shot.
I came home, and we started
going for very slow, gentle walks for 5 or 10 minutes a day. Miraculously,
he improved every time I took him out. I thought maybe we had this licked
finally. For six weeks, he improved, walking more boldly every time I took
him out, even feeling frisky enough to jog trot around and break into a little
lope once in a while, when turned out. I hopped on his back a few times to
walk him and he seemed okay. My farrier couldn't believe his turnaround,
and said to keep doing what I was doing.
I did continue, but in
October he suddenly went very lame one day. I couldn't figure out what was
going on. He walked up on his toe on his left front, his worse foot, which
was completely opposite of how a foundered horse should walk. Took him to
the vet, who simply said, you need to take off more heel. Farrier said we
can't do that, he has too much tension on his deep flexor tendon, he can't
handle it. Finally, in November, Monkey had a tiny abscess come out at the
coronary band at the toe, not the heel as I was hoping. But I thought, "This
has to be it!". But he was no less lame. Over the next several months he
had many abscesses come out on both front feet, all at the toe. We tried
changing his shoes, which helped for a little bit, but ultimately he reverted
back. We had him chiropracted, massaged, and treated by an acupuncturist.
I walked him, I didn't walk him, I turned him out, I left him in. Nothing
worked for more than a week at a time.
Finally, the first of June,
I decided to try one more thing. He had surgery to cut the check ligaments
in both forelegs, in hopes that he could then walk on his heel. All the time,
he had been walking on his toes, unlike typical foundered horses, who want
to walk on their heels.
For the first week after
the surgery, he improved. He could now place weight on his heels, and walked
more normally. But the second week, things started to slide. Three weeks
out, something was going terribly wrong. He began having an explosion of
abscesses in both feet. He had three or four open draining abscesses in both
feet at any given time. They wouldn't dry up, stuff just kept coming out.
I kept them wrapped as best as I could, but he would tear off the wrapping
when laying down. He laid down 22 hours of the day, was developing new bedsores
overnight it seemed. No amount of bute could make him comfortable.
Finally, on June 21, I
took him to the vet and farrier again. We planned on doing a resection to
remove all the infected hoof wall, so maybe the abscesses would clear up.
But when the vet x-rayed him, our worst nightmare became real. He had a very
bad bone infection, that had gotten progressively worse since we'd last x-rayed
only six weeks before. The toes of his coffin bones, which were already extremely
deteriorated from the original founder years before, looked like sponges.
The bones were so porous, and you could see black holes of infection, literally
eating up his coffin bones. My vet said we could try injecting antibiotics
directly into the digital arteries, so they went straight to the foot. He
said he'd had success in some horses, but not in others. I told him I would
think about it, and did, but really had little hope that it could help him,
and headed over to the farriers.
My farrier saw his x-rays,
then looked at the poor state of his feet. The vet had nerve-blocked him
before x-raying and that was what finally made me realize we really were
losing this battle. He was no better at all with the block, whereas previously
when blocked, he would walk off sound. My farrier and I sat down for a long
talk, that we had had before, but this time it was serious. Watching Monkey
squirm around, unable to stand still but unable to really move because of
his pain, I decided it was time to let him go. My farrier agreed, but said
he wanted it to be my decision. I knew it was time for him, he was truly
suffering and nothing would fight this infection.
We gave Monkey some wonderful,
green, green alfalfa, which had always been off limits to him due to HYPP.
He tore into it without a care in the world, and for a few minutes I thought
I'd made the wrong decision. How could this horse need to be put down, when
he could eat like this? But watching him eat, he never put his left foot
down to stand on it. He continued to lean far back over his hocks to momentarily
get off his front feet. He was hurting, and this time, I knew it wasn't going
to improve.
The vet came out, gave him
a big dose of tranquilizer to put him in "happy land" and put him down. Monkey
just laid down and was gone, all very peacefully. I had not been sure I could
be there for that moment, but when it came, I was glad I was there. Monkey
and I had been through so much together that it just seemed right. My farrier
was with him as well, and it just seemed fitting that both he and I be with
Monkey at the end, after eight years of working on his feet, through the
good times and the bad. My farrier made arrangements for him to be buried,
and for that I was extremely grateful. I would not have known how to deal
with that.
During the two hour drive
home, I drove through some very strong thunderstorms. But as the storms moved
on to the east, I saw the biggest and brightest rainbow I have ever seen
in my life. I knew that rainbow was for Monkey, and it was his path home.
I know he is up in heaven now, with perfect feet, and can run and play forever.
I know it will not be too long before I see him again, and can once again
enjoy his effortless perfect jog, and deep driving, smooth lope.
Monkey taught me so many
things during my time with him. When he was showing, he taught me all the
ins and outs of Western Pleasure. But the most important things he taught
me were in the last two years, as we battled this disease. He taught me what
it is to truly have patience. He taught me how to deal with frustration and
that things don't always work out the way we'd want. He taught me an incredible
amount about equine anatomy, laminitis and its subsequent problems, signs
of lameness problems and their treatment options, how to listen to what my
horse is telling me. He taught me to always be happy and cheerful no matter
how bad things may be, just as he was, even down to the very end. He taught
me to never, ever give up. But mostly he taught me to love someone
unconditionally, not for what they can do for me, but for what I can do for
them. Monkey also blessed me with the most wonderful friends that I could
have ever asked for and would have never had if not for him, friends that
have supported me through this loss.
So, until I see you again,
my beautiful Monkey, I will never forget you. Goodbye my pretty boy, you
had the heart of 10,000 horses and were brave and cheerful to the
end.
Love,
Kelly
Mr. Monkey Business 
