Ani's giving up on Mira?

This is really hard for me to grasp; it doesn't make complete sense to me. It does give some answers to my ponderings about Mira in the last few months.

When I met Ani today she burst into tears right there on the street and cried on my shoulder for a very long time without speaking.  I finally got her to talk and she said she has to give Mira up, and Mira will probably die. What?

She explained this all in jagged English to help me grasp the concepts, but I still took a while.

So...Ani doesn't actually own Mira.

Huh? I remember specifically asking her if Mira was a lease, because I know Ani had leased two other neighborhood horses before Mira. I recall her answer was no, not a lease.

But a messed up situation indeed. Somehow for the past 1.5 years Ani has taken over virtually all aspects of ownership (hence the "white lie" she told). In fact, her owner does nothing with the horse except pitch in 50Euros per month toward her care. Ani pays all the rest, and this last year the vet bills have been piling up.

Last week remember Ani was having trouble riding Mira, Mira was acting stiffer than normal, so she called the chiropractor out. Today she didn't even ride, she just led Mira on foot. Now it makes sense why Ani didn't feel comfortable backing Mira up alongside a bench to mount. (Why am I so judgemental!)

Last Winter Mira had a tooth infection and could not eat, and Ani was beside herself, thinking the mare would surely die. But she nursed her back to health and has been giving her supplements and mashes that she carries to her twice daily on her bicycle (ugh!).

Ani told me she's done with it, if she cannot own the mare 100%, but must pay most of the bills, she'll quit. She gave the owner an ultimatum yesterday, "Give her to me completely or take care of her yourself."

The owner (who supposedly visits Mira 3X yearly) refused, saying she won't give up ownership of the horse. (How odd, to never do anything with an elderly horse, but refuse to pay its costs and refuse to give it up to the person who does.)

I said, "This is reminiscent of when King Solomon offered to cut a baby in half to determine its real mother - the real mother would rather give it up than have half a baby."

I don't understand how this happened, but I can guess that the reason Ani wants out is the amount of vet bills lately (and she's on welfare).

I asked her, "Did you have another bad experience with leasing?"

More than one - she had the Haflinger who lived up our street, until the owner stopped caring for the horse and she felt it was an abusive situation so she backed out.

Then the big white horse she leased before Mira, the owner just took the horse to another state one day and never came back, and never even warned her.

Leasing doesn't have to suck, I know, but for Ani it sure has.

I suggested Ani sell the saddle and offer to buy Mira with that money - Mira is 26 and no one else would buy her, she shows her age. I don't know if Ani will do that but she asked me to help her tomorrow to get her tack out of the barn, cuz she doesn't expect it to go well.

Sadly Ani expects that when the owner keeps the mare, she won't get two buckets per day, and certainly not chiropractic visits and regular slow riding to keep her moving. : ( Ani feels it's a death sentence for Mira.

And selfishly, what am I gonna do without Mira? I count on our weekly outings so much. Selina says she's too busy (haven't seen her since April!) and it's too hot out for Momo, so it looks bad for me and Mag.

I hope the owner sees reason and gives the mare up to Ani, and Ani can care for her for the short time she has left.