On the evening of October 14th, we received a call about a horse that had been behaving abnormally for about a day, and had gone down and seemed unable to get up. Our staff responded and found 25-year-old Daisy (also known as Snowcone) indeed unable and/or unwilling to stand up and move. Based on multiple factors (the late hour, the weather, the fact that it would be unsafe to trailer Daisy in that state, and the fact that she was in a very safe and secure location) our veterinarian advised that we administer pain medication and then reconvene on-site first thing in the morning to reassess.
On the morning of October 15th, CWHF staff, along with our veterinarian, returned to the site and found Daisy standing, though still not particularly stable. We were able to easily capture her, and our vet administered more pain medication before we loaded her onto the trailer to bring her to the farm for further treatment. She made the trip quite well. Daisy was presenting with a variety of symptoms that could have been caused by any number of things, so our vet drew blood to start the diagnostic process and we got her as comfortable as possible while we waited for more answers. However, during the night Daisy passed away quietly on her own.
The following morning we took Daisy’s body to the state lab in Raleigh for a necropsy. Findings indicated chronic cardiac and liver changes along with several other conditions indicative of old age. Nothing else was found to suggest acute illness, communicable disease, toxicity, or anything else along those lines.
Daisy was one of the more well-known horses on the beach because she was a part of Raymond the mule’s harem for years until he was brought to the farm in 2019. Her distinctive blaze made her recognizable, and was how she got the name Snowcone. She was big and bossy – a chestnut mare through and through. She had to be to keep Raymond in line. We know she had multiple foals over the years, and now that we have her DNA we’ll be able to identify any offspring of hers still in the wild. Daisy certainly lived and died on her own terms, but we’re glad that we were at least able to make her last few hours pain-free. She also got to see her old friend Raymond one last time.
We’d like to extend a very special thank-you to the Conns for calling about Daisy and being so kind and supportive throughout this difficult situation. Daisy (and the rest of the horses) are lucky to have people like the Conns in their corner. We are so grateful.
Rest easy, Daisy.