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Friday, June 7, 2013

Our Old Horse

One of the main reasons I paint is my affection for animals. All of my life I had an intense connection with animals and this has been fostered by numerous wonderful pets. Those pets have ranged from mice to horses with many wonderful assorted creatures in between. All of them have brought something great to my life. But of that long list there have been a few that have been extra special.

One of those was Sunder, our horse of 31 years that just passed away last week. Some of you may say you thought his name was Thunder...well that was my fault...never in 31 years really understood the name Sunder so I for the most part called him Thunder.

He was such a part of our lives that we feel a void now, an empty spot that just keeps reminding us that someone is missing. Our field is empty and our routine broken...each morning there is nothing that needs to be done before having breakfast, no trips to the barn are needed at the end of the day. Also it is so very strange not to have his welcoming nicker whenever we come home. 

He was in deed the most clever and kindly horse that we ever had. He adjusted his approach to a ride to suit the rider....for little kids he was so gentle and careful but for myself or my husband he was a delightfully energetic ride. As a part Tennessee Walker he had the long smooth walk that could make our Norwegian Fjords want to cry trying to catch up.

He loved to go hunting and camping with Neil. When the horse trailer would come into the yard...he was ready to go. He took my girls to their riding lessons when they were little, taught them all things horsey and  how be brave and caring.  Every person of my family spend endless happy hours riding him on the mountain trails above our home.

He had an amazing life, outliving all of his contemporaries even though he was the one with the health issues.
Over the years we enjoyed taking that extra care that made that long life possible: buckets of special soaked feed, vegetable and juice pulp, special hay and vitamins. 

We will miss Sunder/Thunder always, but also feel so lucky to have had such a long wonderful friendship with him.