Enette left us last night.

This tough yet so sweet mare who had survived so many challenges in her long life, gave in to this last fight.
Enette came to us in 2011: her then owner declared herself desperate to find a place where Enette could have a happy retirement, after 25 years service in a riding school Unfortunately after a few months and at the first need to call a vet, she then decided that Enette was, after all, old, and perhaps it was better to just let nature take its course. For a short while the cost of Enette’s keep and medical care was covered by one of our volunteers, after which we footed all the bills in order to give Enette her wellbeing and her freedom, alongside all our older equine guests here at the Rescue Centre. We managed to get her through all the problems she carried in her body from her past life, her acute laminitis, the loss of vision in one eye due to glaucoma, surgical treatment for the aftermath of a cancerous tumour on her face.

For years all our volunteers at the Rescue Centre took loving care of Enette, whether it was her daily mouthwashes, administering two different types of eye drops three times a day, or preparing her special meals, putting on her hoof boots when she had a laminitis attack. She recently fractured a knee but even then recovered, with her usual spirit.
From her very first day here she had a very strong bond with Sissi, one of our oldest horses. And she also helped us so much two years ago when we brought Costanza to the Rescue Centre, the little foal we snatched from certain death in the Colleferro seizure; Costanza found in Enette a wonderful and protective auntie (you see them together, in the photo).

In the late afternoon yesterday, Enette went down with the clear and classic symptoms of a bad colic. Our vet rushed to the scene and immediately realised the gravity of the situation: a twisted gut. In such cases with a young horse, they go off to the clinic for surgery, but with an old horse the chances of survival of an operation like that are minimal, almost zero. Even if they survive the operation the post-operative time can be difficult, painful and is usually anyway fatal.
So, after many hours of intensive therapy, at dawn we had to acknowledge that Enette was getting worse and worse and we made the decision to end her suffering.

Thank you so much, very special horse, for your patience during your daily medications, for your absolute will to live, for everything you taught us and for knowing how to teach it. Now... rest in peace.