Let me tell you about life. Make the most of it, be as good as you can to the
critters and folks around you, because you never know what's lurking around the
next corner.
This may be pounding in a
nail with a 20 pound sledge, but as I was writing
that last email, I got a call that a mare I owned for 12 years, a mare that meant the
world to me, died a horrible death yesterday. Cammie was 14 years old, an incredibly sweet sorrel
appy mare that I bought off the track as a 4 year old as a horse for my husband,
a novice rider. I knew better than trust that logic, but... something about her
told me it would work out just fine. It
did.
Cammie was
that rare horse who was big, hot and passionate, yet you could give her lead
rope to a 4 year old and she'd imitate a Pleasure Class QH ... She was
smooth and willing, a handy horse to ride, I called her the "BarcaLounger Babe",
and loved to go fast, but could be ridden by beginner riders. Her only fault was
her impatience... she loved to go.
Cammie was short for Cam
Shaft, her race name. She was willowy and powerful, very feminine and sweet,
very jealous. She had TB type good looks, with long satiny mane and tail... She
was a girl, through and through...
I gave Cammie to my friend Karen last year
after she lost her mare to colic. I had been off of work for
almost a year and with 4 horses to board, and
prospects of work growing dimmer... I was
worried about them because I'm not willing to just let them go. I was talking to someone about Karen's
misfortune when a light clicked on. Karen loved Cammie,
and I knew if I gave her to Karen, Karen would
cherish her for the rest of her life.
Karen worshiped Cammie
and vice versa...
Folks, Cammie was in a very safe home, yet
she died a horrible
death. Bad enough that I don't get the
details...
Would she have been better off as an endurance horse? I
don't think she had the conformation to do steady endurance, but mentally, she
would have loved it. She may have been safer if she'd had to "work for a living"
because she was an energetic, exuberant mare, very passionate, and work took the
edge off of her.
Her untapped exuberance may have caused her demise...
she died in pasture, in shock and from loss of blood, with a broken leg.
I feel bad for Cammie, and bad for myself... this is
the cap on a tough couple of years, and I just lost Sam a month ago,
and a friend that I loved like a sister n that same time frame. I can't
tell any Cammie stories... I haven't got it in me now. Maybe later...
there are many great ones to tell.
I feel terrible for Karen... Karen loved Cam
deeply and was so honored that I'd give her a horse that I loved so
much.... for her to lose two mares in one year to
accidents? She will be blaming herself...
Go go give your horses a hug and a carrot in Cam's
memory... and please say a prayer for Karen, who is in her own private hell at
this moment...
