 |
|
|
I once had a little Shetland Pony, she wasn't really mine but when at age six I lived with my Grandparents in Tasmania the neighbors told me that the pony was mine as long as I lived there. Their children had outgrown her and she needed a little girl to love her... I was a sad little girl who had just emerged from the-hell-on-earth that children's homes still were in the modern dark ages [1960s] and I am sure that having that warm empathic little pony to hug made all the difference in the world to the me I used to be. I rarely rode the pony as I was afraid of falling, there had been enough pain in my life over the preceding year... but I did spend hours grooming and loving her, as she did me. Many years went by, I tried to grow up, had children of my own who I hope with all my heart that I did minimal damage to and through my youngest three children I again discovered the wonderful feeling of loving a horse. May came into our life through a series of misadventures, and I am forever thankful that she did, they were rocky times when I was starting to withdraw back into the hard shell that had been my exterior most of my life, denying my feelings of pain and denying my own worth as I had nearly always done. One day at my lowest point I went to the barn to muck the stall and May came over to me, put her face by mine, stared into my eyes then put her big head over my shoulder and hugged me. I closed my eyes and I was once again little Susan, six years old and feeling the warmth of the pony's body, her sweet smell and her love... May reminded me of that time and I felt safe and less alone. I was addicted once again. I never thought I would feel the same way about another horse as I did with May, I thought that it was just something special about her, but that was before I met Victory. I never liked horses with blue eyes, and last year when Victory came to live with us I saw that her left eye had a blue crescent and suddenly I loved her blue eye. She was a special girl, so sweet... every time I went to the pasture or barn, there she was at my side, every time I felt low, there she was with her left eye gazing into mine. I loved her like no other horse, she was my girl and I had decided that I needed to loose weight so I could one day ride my little horse. She stood at just 13h, and didn't yet have the muscle so commonly found in Gypsy horses, but she was only two years old when we got her. Bad luck plagued her, she aborted just days after she arrived to live with us, winter was unkind to her and while the other horses flourished Victory needed special feed and attention to keep her in reasonable condition. She loved the special attention when she was taken into the barn alone and given her feed.... she almost smirked at the fat horses who didn't need to have it. But it concerned me, she would gain weight, then loose it all over again, the veterinarian couldn't find anything wrong and suggested that we just keep on giving her extra feed. She was never thrifty as Gypsy horses should be... but now she's an easy keeper, she will never consume another morsel of special feed, her favorite sunflower seeds or even a flake of hay. Today she went to The Rainbow Bridge where I hope she is waiting for the day when she will be reunited with those who loved her. Susan Gallien August 20 2007. |
Victory's eye with a blue cresent moon.  
Victory in November 2006 Back to my index page. |
|
|