A sad horsey good-bye

 

(Dodge, Grace, Harriet, Freckles)

Is there any other kind?  I have decided, after my 30+ years in the horse world, that there is no happy ending when it comes to horses.  If you let yourself get attached to one, you are doomed.  At some point, you will either have to put it down or watch it get on a trailer and drive away from you, or you will drive away from the barn in which it resides.

These are the reasons, after ripping our hearts out as we left Tinkerbell in Massachusetts, that I swore I would never become attached to another horse, especially one that wasn't my own.   I dipped my toes in Galloping Grace, trying not to become fully committed at first.  Going there sporadically and riding and working with different horses each time felt healthy.  But, I do have a sickness, a genetic flaw, that causes me to get wrapped up and utterly sucked into anything horsey if I am around for too long.   And, let's face it, Galloping Grace and its owners, the Wades, are just kind of irresistible.  As the fall started and I earned my own set of keys to the ranch so that I could be one of the feeders, I knew I was right back where I secretly wanted to be.  Totally attached and committed to another barn and its set of horses and good people.  There's really no better therapy for me than that kind of situation.  I do thrive on it and I love it.  The mornings I spent feeding the horses at the ranch were some of the best I have spent.  I love the smell of hay and grain in the crisp morning air and the sound of horses munching in their buckets and nickering at the gates (ok, sometimes pounding the gates with their hooves waiting for their hay.)  

Something happens when you feed and take care of a horse (or any animal) over a period of time and then get to know it better by riding and working with it.  They become like your kids and better yet, your non-judegmental friends.  I think that's what I like best about horses and dogs too.  It doesn't matter if you haven't showered, if you have on 17 layers of mis-matched clothes and a dorky hat, if you just made 100 mistakes yesterday.  They accept you and love you and grow used to having you in their life too.  

Still, as I have always felt about Galloping Grace, I just could not fathom how it was possible for one family to provide this kind of service for so many people.  I was amazed and grateful that somehow it was possible.  Sure I was happy to help them do it and so were many others, but at the end of the day it always boiled down to the hard-working Wade family.  How could one humble cowboy keep working this hard, especially with his own health issues and his own family to raise?  How could they continue to afford to offer riding experiences for free to anyone who wanted to come when horses are so incredibly expensive?  (especially with exponentially growing numbers of interested kids.)  I knew that something about the math just couldn't add up in the end.  I didn't want to believe it because I really believed in the program, but it was the only thing that made sense.  

David and I, one night, were having a conversation about the whole thing, eerily almost in a crystal ball kind of way.  The very next morning, Max called to tell me that they would be discontinuing the riding program at the ranch, and would be finding new homes for all of the horses that weren't his personal horses.  His would be taken back to his family cattle ranch.  Even though I was prepared for it mentally as I had been all along, it was still a crushing blow to realize that my feelings had been right.  

I know they made a really smart decision.  As is usually the case with horses, the smart decisions are often painful.  Max's passion extends well beyond horsemanship though.  He is very interested and committed to bringing agricultural learning to children and intends to do that in a different way now.  Because of the success of their pumpkin patch and Christmas tree lot, they intend to deliver their services to kids through those venues and add more.  They will keep the smaller farm animals and expand those herds to be more educational and reach more kids.  The math adds up.  They will be able to teach more kids about farming and ranching if they aren't feeding a very limited and expensive herd of horses.  (Wades, if you read this, you know I support your decisions 100%.)  

But, this brings us to our good-byes.  We did get attached to those stinking horses!  (Grace has been working on her own comic strip over the past year that she calls "Those stinkin' horses!"  It's pretty funny.)  Anyway, we weren't quite prepared for how fast we would have to say good-bye.  Max had asked me to help him prepare the horses to find new owners and write up information about them since I had been working with them all winter.  I thought I had several weeks - I've tried to place horses before.  I know how very long it can take.  Too bad my 0.10 acres isn't horse property.  

The very next day after Max's phone call, I took the kids out to the ranch, not to say good-bye, but to meet the new baby goat they had been dying to see.  (We did play with it for a bit - seriously cute and soft and sweet.)

As we pulled up, I knew something was wrong.  Too many people there for a Saturday afternoon.  

We got out of the car to the words "all of the horses have been placed except for 3."  I knew the trailers would start pulling up before we could even get to another weekend, so instead of romping for long with the new goat, we headed out to the pasture.  

Over the winter, Harriet and Grace had gotten attached to Dodge and Freckles.  Both such loving and sweet horses.  I'd trust them to anything.  I had been working with them to get them in shape for summer sessions, and also riding some of the more difficult guys, trying to get them ready for our older, more experienced teenage volunteers this summer.  Snuff (the bay below) was my favorite ride of the season.  He and I did bond and I was excited to see what the kids would be able to do with him this year.  

Snuff is one of Max's horses, so he is returning to the cattle ranch.  Dodge and Freckles were both donated to/rescued by the ranch and thus found new homes.  

We are so thankful for all that Galloping Grace has given to our family, especially the chance to be with these horses and to ride and care for them.  We will miss them, but we are excited to see the new changes to the ranch and learn more about the smaller animals and other types of agriculture too.  We're sure we will find more horses another place another day.  We always do.  And, I'm sure we'll get attached to them too despite our best efforts otherwise.