blog

Just shy of her 33rd birthday

Apr 27, 2025

I never delved too deep into Ruby’s story which is similar to how we treat people when they come to the farm. Animals and people get to just be themselves at the farm. We have no need for any preconceived labels here at Kindred. The only thing that was important to us was that she was a Standardbred rescued from the race track. And then we took it from there. All we did was get to know her.

Toast by Kim
“It’s an honour to be here today to celebrate Ruby attaining the lovely age of 30 – around 90 in human years! After a demanding life that began with hard work when she was a baby of two, she spent years meeting the expectations of humans who subjected her to harsh treatment so that she could be used for gambling, breeding, and riding. A year and a half ago, when she was enduring her final years in loneliness and neglect, the kind people of Kindred intervened. Ruby was rescued to spend her days in the company of Badger and Secret. Being with her own species again is so crucial to her mental well being, and here she’s well fed, has shelter, routine, and eyes watching that check for her welfare, not for what she can profit them. 
She’s a cranky old gal sometimes, and may never again fully trust humans, but this is a state of being worth toasting. So let’s raise a glass to survival, to a horse that won her final race and came to sanctuary at last. To Ruby! “

The month of April, 2025 saw Ruby quickly decline. Her muscle mass had deteriorated to a point where she was stumbling while walking and was unable to balance on 3 feet for her last farrier visit. In all the time we had her, we only ever saw her lie down to sleep twice (this is how horses get their REM sleep). So it was really tough to see her try to sleep standing up with her recent compromised balance. Her eyes would close, she would lose her balance, stumble and be jerked back awake. She became extremely sleep deprived the last few weeks.

Monday night Ruby’s balance was particularly bad and we thought she wouldn’t make it through the night without falling and causing deep distress. We called an emergency vet and we were expecting to help Ruby cross over then. Instead, under the safety of the horse shelter, Ruby regained some stability, her vital signs were good, and the vet felt we had a day or two to plan for a proper crossing. That felt good for Chris and I. The next two days were filled with sunshine, green grass grazing, and visits from peeps who loved her. At the end of the second night, surrounded by a few key people and her best buds, Secret and Badger, we were able to softly, gently relax her and ease her to the ground for her final deep sleep.   

From the beginning Ruby fit right in and enjoyed being part of a horse herd. Human interaction and care on the other hand never seemed to bring her joy. The irony is, with intensive care, we grew to love and be connected to Ruby but not her to us.  She had landed in the right place as we allowed her to be herself and enjoy life on her terms.

To write her story, I realized I needed to look into her history. This has caused me a lot of emotional pain, and is more difficult to think about than her gentle passing. Ruby was extremely traumatized in her early life as a harness racer, as a brood mare, and then at a hobby farm. She carried this with her with as much grace as she could muster. We feel that Kindred Farm gave her the proper retirement for a horse that was used and abused. We spent time listening to her likes and dislikes and respected them. Ruby came to us with a winter blanket on, so we didn’t discover until we attempted to remove it how much she hated her blanket taken off or put back on. This became a constant struggle for us but one that a few of our trained volunteers didn’t shy away from. Being an older horse (28 years old when we got her), she needed a blanket to keep her old, thin body warm in the wet/cold months.

Ruby’s story also includes a very special person named Kim who rescued her in 2007. Then due to life circumstances in 2012, she needed to re-home Ruby. To me Kim is the gold standard for a horse owner as after re-homing her, she never lost sight of Ruby and her level of care. In 2020, Kim asked us to re-home Ruby after she found her in a desperate situation on Vancouver Island. I’m so glad we said yes. We have been in constant contact with Kim about Ruby’s care and any health or behaviour issues we had. It was an honour to see Kim groom Ruby on her final day. Would we ever say Ruby was lucky in life? Ruby had some remarkable kind people that came into her life and maybe compared to many other horses, that did make her lucky.

Sleep well Ruby. You are loved

Christine Mayworm & Keryn Denroche