Pops – Crossed the Rainbow Bridge to Heaven

Pops is about a 37 year old Rocky Mountain Horse Gelding who stands at 14.4 hands.  We originally told he was only 20 years old when he arrived but when Dr. Garrett had looked at his teeth he said “This old fella seen 20 10 years ago”. Pops has been here at the rescue for the last 6 years.  This poor, old ‘fella has not had an easy life and his scars and behavior tell the tale.  Although he came to us shy and afraid of people, he has warmed up to us, and has turned out to be a total sweetheart! Unfortunately Pops has a few health issues due to his age and lack of previous care.  Pops has teeth issues and his teeth have been ground down by both nature and lack preventative care.  Pops had to be fed 15lbs of wet Senior fed a day, along with the little bit of hay he manages to swallow, which usually results in dropped quibs (rolls of wet hay) which end up on the ground or in the water troughs.  Pops also suffers from arthritis and you can hear his joints click and creak as he carefully navigates around the barn and pastures. His back end started to give out so Emily (a volunteer) and I had to pick him up by putting a rope under him and lifted him up several times. One day Pops stood up on his own so he thought he was improving. Two weeks after Pops was down and couldn’t get back up even with our help his legs were unable to hold his weight. It was a tough but he went to heaven at the beginning of December 2019. We love you Pops!