Sad news as Fred Mertz, our ailing Draft mule, passed away some time late last night. He was found this morning in his barn stall, where it looks like he just laid down and died. There was not much evidence of any struggling and we think he was just tired ad his old body finally just gave out. He was up yesterday afternoon and last night and ate his dinner. Fred never appeared to be in any pain, he just seemed tired and his body had really slowed down. We had done all we could over the past year to help him, including steriod injections and regular Legend shots, but it was his time. We are happy to think that he passed naturally, when he was ready, in safety and comfort at Shiloh.
He as a very loved member of the Shiloh Family and we all will miss him. We laughed this morning when we thought back to the days when he needed to wear a grazing muzzle as we tried to get him to stop eating all of our newly planted trees. We eventually gave up and sacrificed the trees to him. We will miss seeing him wandering the ranch, eating off of the hay piles, pushing open the barn stalls to eat the other horses' feed, and laying in the soft sand.
Fred Mertz is buried at Shiloh in one of his favorite areas to nap...
Fred in the vet clinic in June...
Fred yesterday in his barn stall at Shiloh...
Rest in peace, Fred. We love you.
5 comments:
We will miss you Fred. You were such a gentle soul. It seemed you did everything in slow motion. Shiloh will not be the same without you wandering around. Rest in peace my friend
Such a loss. {{{HUGS}}}
I will miss you Fred ,I always looked forward to giving you peppermint treats when you were by my tack room .you had those big floppy lips that would take my whole hand in your mouth ,but you was always gentle .Rest in peace our friend
Dave
Awww, he was such a sweetie! He came right up and greeted me when I was there dropping off Keller. I thought he was a wonderful ambassador for Shiloh and I'm certain he will be very missed. RIP Fred
AAaawwww.... I remember feeding him carrots when I visited!! He was a sweetie!
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