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October 26, 2008
Saying goodbye to an old friend
I would have sworn I had a ton of pictures of him. In fact, I didn't bother to take more pictures of him the last time we visited because it felt like I had a million pictures of the same thing. Now I'm wishing I had gotten just one more good picture of my old friend.
He taught me how to ride. How to stand up for myself. How to be free.
He was stubborn and lazy and he followed my dad around like a dog. He liked beer and hated being alone in his pasture, no matter how short the time. Just when you were starting to think riding him was boring, he'd throw in a little buck to wake you up.
I trusted him with my babies.
There are a lot of people who think that a horse just can't live without a barn and a fancy bedded stall and twice a day meals. Loot lived in a pasture with nothing more than a shed to block the weather, hay in the winter if the pasture was bare, and grain to put some weight on him when he got older, for the last 23 years of his life. He wasn't exactly free, but he had an easy, relaxed life, at least while he was ours.
I knew he could go at any time. He was old. And not just approaching the end of your average horse's lifespan old. Really old. Dad and I can never agree if he was my age or a year younger. We've had him since I was 10.
I thought he was going to live forever.
Posted by me at October 26, 2008 9:46 PM