09/05/2026
It’s been 24 hours since we said goodbye to Cannoli, and the sentiments from this community have completely overwhelmed me. 🥹♥️
This horse meant so much to so many people, and reading all of the memories and seeing the pictures you’ve been sharing has been incredible. This video is one of my favorites because Cannoli is lying in his sunny spot on a good day—the very same spot he chose to cross over yesterday.
Most of you don’t know the whole story of his final morning, but I think I’m ready to share it. Maybe telling it is part of the healing.
A lot of you know that Cannoli was a little like the boy who cried wolf. 😂 So many times we thought, “This is it. He’s not going to get back up.” And every single time, he would surprise us, get back on his feet, and go on doing great for another few months.
We had repeated this process so many times that my daughter and I actually had a routine. Whenever I found him lying down and something didn’t look quite right, I would call her and tell her, “Cannoli’s down.”
She would casually respond, “Okay, fine. Do a life check.”
I’d check him. He’d be fine. And life would go on.
Except yesterday.
Yesterday he didn’t get up. And he didn’t eat his breakfast.
We knew.
We called the vet immediately, and she got here within about an hour. We called several friends that had requested to be present at the end. While we waited, Cannoli was uncomfortable and rolling around, but no matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn’t get himself up. We sat with him and waited.
When the vet arrived, we told her, “Please hurry. He’s really uncomfortable.”
She came as quickly as she could into the run-in shed, needle in hand. And in about the amount of time it took me to say, “Can you please explain the process before you do anything?”…
Cannoli shot up like a bat out of hell. 😂🥹
This horse who could not get up suddenly RAN through the dry lot. He ran around it a few times, literally opened the gate, and headed out into the big pasture like we hadn’t seen him move in years.
And then he went straight to his sunny spot, and collapsed.
His spot. The place he chose on good days and bad days. The place where he loved to lie in the warmth of the sun.
Mike and Angus were there.
Cannoli made it to them, laid himself down in his favorite sunny spot, and it was almost as if he said,
“Okay. Now I’m ready.”
And that is where we said goodbye. 💔
I don’t know what gave that old boy the strength for one final run. Maybe he knew exactly where he wanted to be. Maybe he wanted to be with his friends. Maybe he simply wanted his last moments to be somewhere familiar, warm and safe.
Whatever it was, Cannoli got to choose his spot.
So when you watch this old video of him on a good day, don’t think about yesterday. Look at him lying there in the sunshine on one of his good days and remember that this was his happy place.
And in the end, it was exactly where he wanted to be. 🌤️🐴♥️
