It's all about Donna

I mourned, and am still mourning, the loss of my very dear horsey non-human friend Pharoah, who crossed over the Rainbow Bridge earlier this year. Today he got a new friend to play with.

“Hoot,” whose real name I have no clue about, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge to meet up with his former barn-mates Denver, Ari, and Mr. Gardner, as well as my Pharoah. Pharoah went to visit Hoot on more than one occassion. I am glad Hoot has friends to run and play with now.

It’s been a pretty tough year for ponies. I won’t bore you with the details. You all know the stories.

I’ll make this a celebration post for our horsey non-human friends. Me and my horsey-girlfriends love our ponies. We have fun with them… we dress them up, we play games, we give them jobs. Best of all, we all love them dearly and losing one is like losing a family member or close friend. Here we remember the happier times.

Hoot was totally cool and deserves a celebratory farewell, after all, he was an outstanding senior citizen. I’m not sure how 33+ human years translates into horse years, but I think it qualifies Hoot as being way up there. What I liked the most about Hoot, was his soft, soulful nicker and big, kind eyes. Those are his two characteristics that stand out most to me, and probably always will. I first met Hoot back in 1996 when I met Kate and Jheroen through a contract job I had at the time. We’ve been good friends ever since and having this common horse interest has help seal this friendship bond we share.

When I would care for Kate and Jheroen’s horses, Hoot always said hello when I entered the barn. Hoot was also the baby sitter horse. When one of my mare’s had her foal, she got to visit Sunrise Ridge because Kate’s mare also had a foal about the same time and we agreed it would be good for the babies to spend time together. When it came time to wean the fillies, Hoot got the job of taking care of the girls. He took his job seriously, too…always making sure to show the girls how life is at Sunrise Ridge and what’s expected.

A few years ago, we celebrated Hoot’s 30th birthday during one of the Sunrise Ridge Horse Driving Trial events. Now that was fun. The cake was delicious! Hoot thought so, too. He deserved it.

I will definitely miss Mr. Hoot, but I have some pretty good memories to make me smile. Thank you, Hoot.

Take care my dear friend Hoot, and please say hi to my Pharoah, and my girlfriend Diana’s Tsaraff.