A Sad Event
	Unfortunately, during one of the first nights we went to Ocala a mare had to be put down. The poor girl, she was rather young. I believe the story is that she has raced in Europe, but they had to retire her because of bad feet. She had a large abscess in her front hoof. Eventualy, she was donated to the HRC for breeding purposes. The thing is, her feet were so painful that she would abort her babies from the stress. That morning, she had aborted her foal. It was the thrid time this had happened, but the longest that they had managed to get her to carry one. However, the absess in her front hoof became too much for her and she miscarried. Steve, the barn manager, called someone to come out and euthanize her. He came a bit early (he wasn't supposed to come until the morning). Steve gave us the heads up, and we went out to watch. We wanted to see it, to know if we could handle the situation and a new experience. It was quick and painless; a gunshot to the forehead. She went down fast and after a few minutes her heart stopped beating. Then the man winched her on to the truck and Steve put the baby up there with her. The foal was tiny, I think about the size of a  tiny golden retriever. We took pictures, but they didn't come out since it was too dark. It was an amazing scene though, with the steam rising up from her body in clouds. It wasn't the exact thing that we wanted to see, but you can't control life. - Anik and Christi
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