Maggie's Story

My best friend K from the first grade had horses. I always loved to spend the night at her house. We would ride from sunrise to sunset. Finally, my parents agreed to buy me a horse. K's parents told us never to buy the first horse you look at. We arrived at the first place and looked at a Morgan x QH Mare. She was around 15 years old and had lots of experience with children. We also looked at an American Saddlebred Mare that was 21 yrs old and had the same quiet disposition. K's parents looked at mine and said, "I know we told you not to buy the first horse we looked at....but you need to buy BOTH of these horses!" So we did! Bitsy, the American saddle bred, would be my brother's horse and Maggie, the Morgan QH would be mine. Maggie was probably 15 hh, sorrel with a thick flaxen mane and tail. She had a perfect diamond shaped star. Her coat was thick and wholly, even in the summer she wouldn't shed it all off. We kept the horses at K's house because we did not have fencing at our place yet. One day, I remember going into Maggie's stall to pick out her feet and telling my mom that it smelled really bad. My mom had no clue that this could mean anything other than it probably always smelled bad! Meanwhile, Bitsy had an accident while pulling a carriage and had to be put down.

Because I was so young, I don't recall exactly when Maggie was diagnosed. We were told that she had Canker (Note: The article in this link is one description of canker. Some of the article fits, some doesn't. Maggie was kept outside and only came in her stall to eat. The barn was not the cleanest but wasn't overly muddy or anything. )Of course, being new horse owners, we didn't know what that meant or how to treat it. Our farrier was very good but didn't know much about treating canker.

We finally moved Maggie home so we could soak and treat her feet daily. We visited every equine veterinarian in South Alabama, each having a different treatment, none would offer Maggie any improvement. We treated her for almost 2 years. At the end, we considered putting her down ourselves...but loved her so much to give up on her. We considered taking her to Auburn University. They could try to cut ALL of the canker out, which would leave her unable to stand at all for who knows how long, and it would cost $1000...money my family did not have after spending so much on treatments for the past 2 years. Our last option was to give her to some people who were going to attempt some old Indian techniques and treatments on her. They assured us they would humanely put her down if they could not get any improvements. We never heard what happened to her, or if she improved at all. I'm guessing that she was eventually put down considering her condition. Back then, canker wasn't widely known among horse professionals and no one knew how to correctly treat it. I'm sure if this would have happened now, we could have saved her.

I will never forget what Maggie taught me. She was so kind and careful with me. She took me down many dirt roads, around barrels, and trails. She taught me how to ride and how to be responsible for someone other than myself. I know she is running in the great green pastures of heaven.