Aww... I'm very sorry to hear about your horse. He looked like a beautiful one... I know we had a couple of racehorses that boarded with us for a while, while they were recooperating; one had bowed tendons, another had cracked his coffin bone, and the third (my personal favourite) was basically track-soured. They used to let me ride the one boy around to improve his attitude... I used to dream of buying him from the woman that owned him because he absolutely loved trail riding and trotting along the paths out in our woods. Sadly, however, he went back to the track and eventually disappeared in a claiming race.
Proud Alvin was a beautiful horse. I'm sorry for your loss FancyHorse. I personally have never had to put a horse down so I don't have that experience, but I am sure it is very much like losing a family member.
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"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it."