On Monday in this excerpt from the Eclipse Press book Equine ER, Surely Awesome, the gentle, sorrel-colored Quarter Horse mare with the shattered long pastern bone, was finally able to leave the hospital for a lay-up barn. She was enjoying some normal turnout and the freedom from being away from the clinic and the medicalization of her life.

Yet even with Surely Awesome’s happiness at having left the hospital, as the days passed, the mare started lying down a bit more. Sometimes, the foal nursed from her as she rested on her side. Yet she still seemed to be stable according to her X-rays. It was now early August, about three and a half months since the fracture. Dr. Al Ruggles had a vacation planned, but was reluctant to go. “I hate going on vacation; something always happens,” he told Kaye Kincaid, the co-owner of the lay-up barn where Surely Awesome was now recovering.

So many stories in the horse world are about missed chances or almost making it