The sky was grey and overcast this morning as we buried Maggie, the horse we have been fostering for the SPCA for the past nine months. Arriving in the middle of our winter, she came to us in foal in a terrible state of neglect. We returned her to a good condition and she successfully had her baby, but sadly, the damage done to her feet from the neglect she suffered proved incurable. Her feet were deteriorating and once her baby was weaned we made the decision to end her suffering.

When she arrived in August last year, she had already spent a week in the care of the SPCA. The truck pulled up and when the ramp was lowered, we were greeted with a soft nicker and a pair of gorgeous liquid brown eyes looking patiently and curiously at her new carers. She stood at the top of the ramp, surveyed her new kingdom and decided it looked suitable. She happily ambled down the ramp and followed Karen up to the yards for her first inspection.

To put it bluntly, she was a coat rack, a hide covering a skeleton, with feet that looked like peter pan slippers (curling up at the front) and a head that looked too big for her frail body. On the body conditon score she was about a 2 (out of 9) and she weighed about 440kg which is tiny for a horse her size (about 16hh).

Right from the word go, she acted like she’d been here all her life, she was a thinker; she watched and considered everything, and was calm and sweet with anything we did to her. She already knew what her feed bucket looked like and would call out to get it faster when she saw it appear. The early days must have been hell for Maggie, with seemingly endless feet trimming and vets prodding and poking her, treating her many and various ailments. Throughout she was a perfect lady. While she had every right to be bitter, scared or angry, she honoured us with a trust and grace that we (humans) did not deserve.

Maggie’s determination was obvious. Over the months she regained her condition and when she gave birth we were pleased to see the baby had not been disadvantaged by her earlier malnutrition. The wee girl quickly won the hearts of all that met her. While her body condition had improved back to normal (the SPCA inspector that originally uplifted Maggie couldn’t believe she was the same horse), Maggie’s feet were a constant struggle. Recurring abcesses made life uncomfortable for her much of the time. We came to realise that the damage done to the underlying structure of her feet by her poor nutrition and foot neglect was getting worse, not better.

With the arrival of her baby (we called her Rocket) our focus had to change to ensure Rocket got the best start to life, while still keeping Maggie as comfortable as possible. Once Rocket was weaned, we owed it to Maggie to end her suffering.

Which brings us to the contract. Back in the mists of time when humans and animals first got to know each other they probably didn’t think much of us. They didn’t need us for anything and would never have sought us out for food or shelter.

As we got to know them better and started to domesticate them, we entered into a contract with these animals. We would tame them, enclose them and selectively breed them over the millennia to be more suited to pulling our burdens or filling our bellies. In the process, we made domestic animals dependant on us as a lot of what made them wild was lost. Our side of the bargain was to look after them – to pick up where their natural abilities had faded away.

We undertook to feed them, provide them with shelter and look out for their welfare (including a humane end). In return we have had the help of animals throughout almost all of human history.

Sadly, we haven’t always honoured our side of the deal. Maggie was an all too clear example of humans failing to keep up their end of the contract. The fact that organisations like the SPCA exist proves the point. Sadly, ours is one of hundreds of cases of animal neglect they intervene in every year. The person responsible for Maggie’s suffering may yet face justice but by all acounts it is a slow and difficult process for the SPCA to prosecute these cases.

By giving Maggie the best care we could over the last nine months we’ve done what we can to make amends, but in the final equation we humans have fallen woefully short of the mark again.

We’re sorry Maggie. Rest in peace my friend.