Baby Seven, Viral Tennessee Horse, Passes Away At 18 Months
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Horses

Baby Seven, Viral Tennessee Horse, Passes Away At 18 Months

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Viral horse Baby Seven has sadly died. The Tennessee foal, a celebrity online, passed away at just 18 months.

Its owner confirmed the sad news on TikTok. Horse owner Katie Van Slyke confirmed that Baby Seven died after developing colic over the past week. They decided to euthanize the young animal.

"While we knew that we didn't have years or even many months left with our sweet boy, we had hoped for more sunny days of watching him graze in the pasture," wrote Van Slyke on TikTok. "We had hoped for more mornings being greeted by his sweet, cheerful whinny - we had hoped for more evenings feeding him his favorite banana treats. We had just hoped for more."

It had been a difficult life for Baby Seven. The horse was born prematurely after 286 days of gestation. Despite risk of complications, Van Slyke refused to give up on Baby Seven and decided to help the animal continue to grow. The horse received treatment at the University of Tennessee Center for Veterinary Medicine.

Baby Seven Dies

The foal struggled to survive and prosper. But the community gathered around it. The horse became the inspiration for the Seven Scholarship for the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. It grants $7,000 to seven third-year equine veterinary students. It comes as a shock that Baby Seven has passed away. So many people were rooting for the horse.

"We have loved Seven fiercely from the moment he was found...standing...whinnying out in the middle of the cold, muddy pasture that he was born in at 286 days gestation," Van Slyke wrote on TikTok. "Anyone who dealt with Seven on a personal level knows the fight and LIFE that he exuded every single day. He WANTED life - he FOUGHT for life. He was a joy, and though he wasn't able to be a "normal horse", no one can say they didn't fight for him to have that chance."

Baby Seven will continue to live on in our hearts.

She continued, "Regardless of what was learned from Seven's journey, he will be paving the way for future equine veterinarians for years to come."