Magic :'(

So at my barn, we have a considerable number of elderly school horses used in summer camps. One of them is a 30 year old Paint gelding named Magic. He has been at my barn long before I arrived, and he has always lived with the mares :). I've never done much with him, just a few rides, but he lives out with my mare, and he is a pleasure in the pasture. Calm, cool, and just plain nice to my mare who is low on the totem pole.
On Sunday, it was discovered that he had a fever and didn't eat his grain that morning. He was immediately put on stall rest. No urine or feces was found in his stall all day, even though he had been drinking and eating. On Monday, the vet came. She diagnosed him with pneumonia. She said his kidneys didn't look great either, and that he needed to urinate soon (Did an ultrasound and his bladder was very full). The vet left us with LOTS of medications, and hooked Magic up to an IV. Myself and a few other friends of mine were instructed to take him out on the lawn and let him eat as much as he wanted everyday. Magic struggled to urinate (He eventually did), and when we took him out to eat, he dropped most of the grass out of his mouth. He ate no grain, because he spat it out. But Magic, being a prey animal, continued on like everything was fine.
On Friday, the vet came again. She said his breathing effort (She used a more technical term) was much higher than the last time she saw him. His heart sounded ok though. We did another ultrasound. The tip of his left lung was collapsed. There was severe tissue buildup around his lungs. His diaphragm was trying so hard to get his lungs working, but the fluid in his lungs made it very hard to do so. The vet said, "I'm going to look at his digestive system," and explained to myself and one of my friends what everything was. She could not for the life of her find Magic's liver in the ultrasound (Neither could we). My trainer mumbled, "We're going to have to take a trip down to the field...".
20 or so minuets later, my trainer found an excavation company available in the next few hours. So my trainer made the decision to put Magic down. The vet, my trainer, Magic, my friend and I walked down to the field. Magic kept trying to stop to eat grass :). We got down to the horse graveyard, and let Magic eat while we wait for another one of my friends who was very close to Magic to arrive. Even while Magic was eating then, all the grass fell out of his mouth :(. After the second friend came, we put Magic down. It was my first time seeing a horse put down, and it was sad to watch, even though he died happy, and I didn't even have a relationship with him.
I honestly don't know how I'm going to go the barn and look in the pasture without Magic there. He's always been there... I don't even own him, and this whole process has been kind of hard.
*Sorry this was so long, I just wanted to share the whole story with you all. It helps me to talk about it indirectly first, then in person...
**Note- My trainer thought he had a stroke last week, which went undetected and caused most of the problems we found in these last few days... :(

Last edited on 2016-07-16 at 17:37:22 by WalkTrotCanter

I'm very sorry to here that this sweet gelding passed away. He sounded absolutely wonderful and I'm sure everyone who goes to your barn will keep his spirit alive and galloping. ♥

:( *internet hugs* It sounds like your barn gave him a lovely life, and that in the end he didn't seem to be in any pain

Also holy carp, 30?! That's one loved, tough horse!

Thanks Bopper. It's helpful to be reminded that sometimes :)
Thanks Ducky. And I'm just as surprised that he lived to be 30, with kids on his back 4-5 days a week for these last few years!