Tribute to "Snickers"- Not "Unwanted".

The following is a tribute to a special horse that was dearly loved by his owner. Thank You Carrie, for giving Snickers 7 years of love. Also, thank you for sharing your story.









Today is the one year anniversary of the death of my best friend.
He fought the effects of WNV for 4 years. I purchased him from a
feedlot. He was nasty tempered and a kicker. We grew to appreciate
one another and had a very short 7 years together. My horse was
never unwanted. He was wanted by his breeder, and then wanted by
the person that bought him as a foal. He was wanted when his owner
left him at the sales barn and the meat buyer certainly wanted his
2300 lbs of flesh. The feedlot operated wanted him, but I had more
money than the slaughterhouse, who wanted him also. I wanted him
more. At no point in his life was my best friend unwanted.

And I want him now. He was humanely euthanized and laid to rest in
the shade of the poplar trees in the pasture. I want him more than
ever, but his life was cut short by disease. I wanted him so much
that I spent thousands of dollars trying to save his life, and then
to ease his pain, and finally spent five hundred dollars more to end
his life and bury him.

At no point in his life was my best friend unwanted.

I miss him fiercely so. Every time it storms I hear his hoofbeats,
and remember the thundering of the ground as he ran full out from
the back pasture to get his grain and apples.

Money couldn't save the life of my best friend. But it could take
away his pain and release him from the body that tormented him so.

I only wish every horse was as wanted as mine was.

Carrie

****You are a great champion. When you ran, the ground shook, the sky opened and mere mortals parted.******

"Unwanted Horses"

I had someone comment on one of my posts and asked "What will we do with all the unwanted horses if slaughter is banned?" There is no such thing as an unwanted horse. Every horse, at some point in it's life, was wanted. It would not exist if it was not wanted.




"Bear" (in picture on left) was left to starve. His owner, quite simply, didn't have time for him, but evidently she wanted him at some point, or why would she have him? "Fly" (on right)previous owners paid a lot of money to breed their mare to get this filly, she was wanted very much, but alas, she had medical issues they were not prepared to take on. And no, you aren't seeing things, Fly was caught in mid-air in the picture. She lives up to her name!




I'll say it again, there is no such thing as an "Unwanted" horse. People apply that title to horses they can no longer afford, or are unwilling to care for them properly simply because the horse no longer benefits them, for whatever reason.




Do you have a story about an "Unwanted" horse? Send it to me and I will post it here.