What is Wrong with Rico?

Nothing is wrong with Rico, except that I keep disturbing his naps. 

Sorry Rico!

It all started when I saw Rico napping in pasture. TC doesn't seem to lay flat out and nap, and if he's on one end of the spectrum (he's never really wanted to lay down and nap, he seems to prefer standing), Rico is on the other. Rico is the nap KING. That horse will sleep like the dead for hours, and that's just the way he fucking looked when I saw him out there that one day. 

I took some deep breaths and told myself it was okay. Rico is coming up on his 27th birthday. I feel like 27 is getting to the point of non-horse people being like "oh wow, didn't realize horses lived that long" and so my brain has decided that he's officially a rather old horse. When my brain decides this, then I start to prepare for the inevitable and honestly, I've handled it okay when we've lost horses after 27 years old.

But I draw the line at seeing my horse laying dead in the field. I know that on his end, dying peacefully in his field is probably best, but I WOULD FREAK THE FUCK OUT IF I WAS THE ONE TO FIND HIM. 

TELL ME HE DOESN'T LOOK A
BIT... STILL... I am aware that this
is a photograph 

So backing up, I saw Rico napping in the pasture and he was like FLAT OUT. Again, this is not out of the ordinary for him. But for some reason, that looming age of him officially being a "rather old horse" and my brain being like "he's lived a great life, everything I get beyond this is just icing on the cake," I was pretty certain that this very normal behavior was abnormal. 

I walked out there and I saw him breathing and took a deep breath. But omg what if he wasn't going to be able to get up?! What if he was actively dying and I was just going to be there to witness it. I quietly said "hey buddy, hey Rico" and he was like "ugh what the fuck" and got up. He's not the world's most steady horse getting up anymore, but he was still perfectly healthy and mostly just annoyed that I woke him up from his nap. I apologized and gave him a hug. 

Paid well for his trouble

A couple of days later, I got to the barn and saw TC and Rico on their porches, TC was standing quietly with Rico, who was again laying flat out. I was like OH MY GOD IT'S HAPPENING. But then I saw him twitch a leg and calmed down. Then freaked out again because I was certain he was caught in the fence. 

This horse has literally napped on the porch or in his pasture the entire time he's lived at the ranch. But still, I rushed into his stall and was like "hey Rico" and he sat up, very clearly not caught in the fence or in ANY kind of distress. I tried to leave when it was aparent that he was once again stuper annoyed at me for disrupting his nap, but it was too late. He got up and was like "okay bitch, I'm up, I'm FINE, give me a cookie for my troubles," and so I did. 

I'm seriously so sorry, buddy!

Anyway, nothing is wrong with Rico, but there IS something wrong with me. I'm hoping that I stop freaking out so much about him napping. I do want to get him (and TC) a pile of sand for his sacrifice pasture to give him a nice soft place to lay and hopefully some more traction getting up. I also am considering doing an adequan boost as we come into winter to hopefully help him out joint-wise as the weather gets cooler. He's given me so much, I can't empty my bank account making him the soundest unrideable 27 year old horse there ever was, but I can do little things here and there to continue giving back to him.