We lost a friend yesterday. A registered Quarter-horse and dear old gentleman
Dry Jaime Bar was a champion barrel racer, an equestrian competitor, a gentle companion. He would have been 28 in March.
I am so sad for my girl. Dry was her second horse, acquired just a few months after horse #1 (Shorty) proved a bit green for her level of experience and riding at the time.. DD was just 9 years old when Dry came to live with us. He was a geriatric horse even then, but healthy and spirited.
A wonderful teacher for our horsecrazy preteen.
The girl rode him in 4H events
local parades, playdays... and became state youth champion barrel racer under his tutelage.
Upon retirement from racing (a couple of summers ago), he became a lesson horse for small children.
His gentle ways and excellent ground manners made him a perfect therapeutic riding horse as well.
He lived in our back yard, that friendly old man. He enjoyed playing with his best pal Shorty, and new friend Nacho.
He loved running and chasing at the horse park,
summer baths,
swimming in nearby lakes, and being ahead of the pack steeplechasing through the snow. He hung out at the lower corral gate by the street, hoping to beg apples, cookies, carrots, candy from passing neighbors and school children.
In fact, our next door neighbor would bring him fresh salads daily during the summer. I guess he was probably quite spoiled according to many horse people. But he deserved it.
This past fall, he'd had to have several teeth removed. He had difficulty chewing up hay so the girl took him buckets of hot mash a couple of times a day. He's had difficulty keeping weight on the past few winters.....and I think our weeks long extreme cold snap tipped the rest of the scales against him.
Yesterday, the girl went out in the morning and found him down. Despite her best efforts, she was unable to get him back to his feet. With the help of another horsey friend, she made him comfortable with straw packed under and around him. He had another big bucket of hot mash before our vet came. And a couple of double cheeseburgers with large fries courtesy of the teenagers. And chocolate peppermint kisses. Our wonderful vet scratched his head on that one and said it was one of the most loving and unique sendoffs he'd seen.
Dry Jaime Bar. 1981-2009. We'll miss you.
10 comments:
I am so sorry for your loss, my heart is with you all.
So sad to hear of the loss of your friend. Hope you and DD can hold onto the good memories and be happy you knew him.
What a beautiful testament of a horsey life well lived! My condolences to you and to DD. *hugs*
I am so sorry for your DD. He sounds like he lived a full and wonderful life with her.
I'm so sorry for your loss and for your DD's loss. He sounds like he was a great companion and that he and DD enriched one another's lives tremendously.
So sorry for the loss. What a great send off - he certainly was loved.
Imagine if all people got a wonderful send off like that. I'm so sorry to read of the loss of your great friend (although a small typo either made me 28 or your horse is actually 38....I had no idea horses could live that long). It's never easy to lose a four footed family member.
Oh, I am so sorry to learn that Dry is gone. He had such a love-filled life in your family, living so very many years, full of horsey fun and happy times. I will be thinking about you all.
Lisa, So Sorry for the loss of Dry Jaime Bar. He certainly had a busy life. My 2 DDs were horse ladies from 7th grade on into college. Although we never lost of horse, I know how difficult it can be for their young riders. Hope your DD is continuing to ride.
Jamie in Colorado
I'm so sorry, there are no words to even help so I won't try, but just know that I'm sitting her bawling my eyes out, and that horse knew how loved he was...that I'm sure off.
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