A LIGHTNESS OF BEING

This was a heavy week: we recently lay Penny Blossom to rest with her skin cancer treatment coming to the end. Sweet elderly Eddie Goat, and his functional breathing issues came to a conclusion this week as well, as he was laid to rest with the kindness of the team at Tufts Veterinary Hospital..

I am going to describe a thought I had today.

Perhaps it is a heavy week because we are catching the heaviness as is slips away from some beloved rescues. They were ready to take flight, in much needed lightness, letting their individual heaviness fall away. It is the privilege of Sanctuary to help the older and sicker rescues when it is their time to journey onward and up.

Our Pony Boy has been a beloved member of our equine buddies for the last couple of years. His severe Cushings, metabolic disorder, and laminitis was mostly stabilized in 2025. But the radiographs this week confirmed our suspicions that his coffin bones in the front hooves were osteopenic (osteoporosis) - or to describe it another way - the bones in his hooves were being absorbed by his body and slowly crumbling. He has been letting us know that his pain was not tolerable, laying down more than standing. He was the most stoic pony I have encountered, full of personality, and so handsome.

In the very early afternoon today, the team from Ocean State Equine and the animal caregiver team here all gathered to give him so much love, and also our blessing for him to shed the heaviness and take the road of lightness. We laid him to rest with the sure knowledge that he has known a lot of love in his life.

Volunteers have been coming to spend time with him this week, and treat him to apples (a usually forbidden treat due to their sugar content). In Pony Boy fashion, he decided carrots were not his thing! His surrender family was also able to visit him - he absolutely remembered them.

Please join us in remembering Pony Boy with much joy.

And... his beloved paddock buddy Sweetie Pony was not forgotten.

She was not left alone: we moved her to the Hilltop Paddock and then moved Adele and Star Donkeys to the Hideaway Paddock where Sweetie and Pony Boy had been living. Sweetie now has Ripley, Dory, and Squirt Ponies right next to her for company.

We will miss you Pony Boy, and always honor your larger than life personality.