10/24/2026
For weeks I have been trying to figure out the right words for this post but sometimes there are no great words. This week we put Piper and Grayson to sleep. This may come as a surprise to some as I’m sure, from the outside they seemed like perfectly healthy horses. But if you knew what to look for and knew what was going on, on the inside, you would know that wasn't the case.
Sometime this past spring Piper damaged the meniscus in her stifle. This was only going to get more painful for her with incoming wet and cold weather. We could have put her through surgeries and extensive treatments but these had no guarantees of actually improving her condition and would have been very stressful for her. She also had melanomas in her mouth, head, and a**s.
For Grayson, he was incredibly stiff, had Equine Odontoclastic Tooth Resorption and Hypercementosis (EOTRH: a painful, progressive dental disease), and melanomas on his eye lid, under his head, several on his shoulder, and a**s. EOTRH can be resolved by having their teeth removed but that surgery and recovery would have a lot of stress on Grayson.
I hope you understand this heartbreaking decision. For death is inevitable. It is a thought that as always in the back of your mind, especially when caring for older people or animals. We are fortunate that when it comes to animals, we have the ability to prevent a more painful death. So that is what we did for Piper and Grayson. A planned goodbye, not one brought on by colic. A perhaps too soon goodbye; one to prevent a more painful death.
Before the days get too cold. Before the good days outnumber the bad days. Before their ailments got to be too much. They got to pass with full tummies. No skipped meals. And all the love by their side.
We will miss Piper’s fondness for boundaries and secret butt scratches and Grayson’s sweet, gentle presence.
No length of time is ever enough.
Thank you to those who made Grayson and Piper's last few weeks extra special.
