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Spirit died this morning. Last night he lost the use of his good back leg. He could still stand but in order to move he had to swing the leg from the hip. Anything that was affecting both hind legs in totally different ways was not going to have a good outcome. He hadn’t eaten for 3 days. He seemed interested in food but would grind his teeth if he took any food into his mouth. I didn’t want him to suffer any more.

I put Prize outside last night and encouraged him to come for a walk with me. That’s when I realized that the right leg wasn’t working. But he walked from his stall to Prize’s. Then he stood with his head and neck in her stall. It made me laugh. He’s on death’s doorstep and he is still playing mind games with her. He used to run inside from the pasture and stand like that looking into her stall. Then when she came in and he was sure she was looking at him, he’d very deliberately step into her stall. It was calculated to make her insane because he was not allowed to mess with her stuff. It worked every time.

I had friends come and get Prize last night and take her to their house. She can’t handle even having him out of her sight here. She’s go nuts and tear the place apart if she was here today because she’d be convinced that he was ignoring her. (He’d have probably liked that!)

This morning I was hugging him and crying into his mane. He got thoroughly irritated as usual so I left him alone. He’s always hated that. If I was upset about something I used to have to bribe him with food to get him to stay long enough to have a shoulder to cry on. When he was done eating he’d walk away muttering and casting annoyed glances back at me like he didn’t believe he had to put up with this crazy emotional crap in his life.

Lots of people have been calling as word has gone out through friends and relatives. I’m not wanting to talk to anyone yet. I took the day off work so I can be as much of a basket case as I want to be all by myself.