Cinnamon arrived at the rescue nearly five years earlier at the age of 28.
She was purchased by a friend of ours for her children to ride.
During the heavy rains she fell in the mud and was unable to get up.
Our friend Susan called the vet and, after diagnosing her with hip dyplasia, recommended that she be put down.
Susan called us, and we took Cinnamon into our care.
We gave her complete stall rest for three months and then slowly started exercising her.
One thing led to another and soon she was being ridden lightly and for longer periods of time.
She healed well and was soon becoming one of the favorites of the volunteers.
In her time with us, she taught many volunteers how to ride.
In July of 1997, Cinnamon went on her last ride - and she had fun!
Here was this 31 year old mare, galloping after cattle with a twelve year old girl on her back.
She must have thought she was a young filly again.
She scampered about for four hours before calling it a day.
In the following several months Cinnamon stared to lay down more and more. She needed help to get up. Not much at first, just someone to give her a little support. She would be fine for a few days or weeks, but she started to need more and more help.
We had a chiropractor give her an adjustment in her last spring and that seemed to help for awhile. Then, she slipped under the bottom rail in the arena and slid down a hill, wedging herself against a tree. This happened around 3:00AM and wasn't noticed until the next morning when a neighbor saw Molly standing and looking down at her. The fire department was called and, under Cindy's direction, she was pulled out of her situation. She was stiff and a little bruised but, otherwise, appeared to be all right. The following week she went down again, and it took the group three hours to get her up. Finally, she went down for the last time.
She died with her human friends and Molly with her. A memorial tree was planted in her honor Saturday, September 18th with all of her friends in attendance. We will miss her antics. She was one of a kind. Thank you, Cinnamon for coming into our lives. Please remember us as we will remember you.