I am so very, very sorry to tell you that my beloved Willem went to the Rainbow Bridge at 3 PM yesterday. He did his best, we all did our best, but it was not meant to be. He never suffered, but when his respiration suddenly became elevated from one minute to the next, he whinnied to me, had one of his beloved red apples, rubbed his head against me for a long time and told me that he was read to go. I called the vet immediately, she was there in no time and he went quietly and with great dignity. His friends and family were all there to say goodbye to him.
I will miss him more than you will know. He was my best friend and my dance partner and each day of the eleven years I had him was a dream come true. But the most gracious gift we can give these gentle giant friends, who put their lives in our hands, is a dignified, pain-free passing without any heroic measures. We had done all we could, but he was not meant to have the gift of years.
Your kind words and prayers and jingles and emails and calls have meant more to me that you will ever know.
We always cover the horses whenever possible, so that they are not laying out there for everyone to see while waiting for the truck to come. And it brought a huge smile to my face to see that the tarp that Julie brought over was actually a huge yellow banner that had HAPPY BIRTHDAY written across the side. We all found it to be highly fitting that we were sending him off on what indeed was a new birthday for him with a banner that said exactly that.
[This message was edited by Coreene on Jul. 16, 2003 at 12:39 PM.]
