Horrible News

So I just found out some bad news.  There is this adorable little grey pony at our barn that is a sweetheart.  She came in on the shipment with Walker, but some of the kids became convinced that she was pregnant.  Our barn owner kept laughing it off and I did at first too, but after awhile, I would take a look at her and think, "That's one fat little pony" - especially considering how she was carrying her weight.  Walker is pretty hefty these days, and she definitely had a belly - in a different way.

Well, apparently, one of the girls came into the barn last Sunday to do chores and found a dead premature foal in the stall with her.  And then this girl (who is only 14 years old by the way) had to help my barn owner's husband dispose of the body.

I feel so bad for the little pony.  Like I said, she is such a sweet pony.  It would be one thing if no one had any suspicions that she was pregnant, but everyone thought so.  This shouldn't have happened.  I don't want to judge my barn owner because I don't know the whole story, but I wonder why she never got her tested.  I heard rumblings that she was thinking about having her tested (and maybe she did plan for an appointment in the end, I don't really know), but I'm sure this could have easily been prevented.

All that being said, I also heard that my barn owner suspects that the pony was bred (probably by accident) to a horse, and the baby would have been too huge for her to carry to term safely anyway.  That makes me feel a little better about this tragedy, and I do realize that things like this happen, but it still makes me feel really sad.

Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the barn today like I planned to, and I won't get there until Wednesday. Ugh!  I'm so swamped with work and all I want to do is see my own big baby.  I have a new plan for teaching my hands to be quiet which I'm excited to enact (more details to come when I actually do it), and I'm also thinking about cantering Walker over the crossrail since he did so well on Sunday.  Hopefully I will get the chance to do all this soon.  In the meantime, I'm in the middle of paper research, discussion preparation, a midterm assignment, and preparations for a second midterm.  Is it Christmas yet?