Today I laid to rest one of my best friends. Abu Ben
Surrabu (better known as "Junior") reached a point where his life was no
longer pleasant. He has been blind for several years, and had
compensated for it very well, until the past few months. His
comfortable world became his prison. I brought him into this world,
and to me fell the difficult task of taking him from it.
Junior
carried 11 different riders down the trail over 2680 endurance miles.
He was the PNER mileage champion in 1995, and was twice 3rd in the AERC Jim
Jones standings. He has left us with many nice foals, including two
sons to carry on for him and several mares in foal for next year. He
carried junior riders without putting a whisker wrong. He gave me my most
memorable 100-miler ever, marching the last 12 miles of Santiam Cascade
over Cash Mountain in the dark in 2 hours and 5 minutes, without ever
breaking a walk--such a beautiful night, such a high. He was my
heart, my companion, and my friend.
They say that you are blessed to
have one special horse in a lifetime--I have had two. First Junior's
dad, Surrabu, and then Junior. So I am truly blessed.
To paraphrase Garth Brooks, I could have missed the pain, but I
would have had to miss the dance. No matter how hard I cry today, no
matter how difficult it is to walk past that empty paddock, every step of
the dance was worth it.
Ride on,
Junior....
Heidi
Do
not go where the path may lead...Go instead where there is no path and leave a
trail. ~~Emerson
Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a
mountain. Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day to day
obstacles of life -- facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing
our resources against the unknown and in the process, discovering our own
unique potential. --John Amatt organizer and participant in Canada's first
successful expedition to the summit of Mt Everest.
