I am writing this love letter to my beloved friend, Spotty, a beautiful Appaloosa gelding who died peacefully on Monday 3rd June this year. I have 'owned' him for around 8 years.
Spotty was 32 years old and lived a happy, full life. He lived with a young boy till he was around 10 years of age (I don't know that much about his past), where he then lived with my aunts landlords son, when he was a child.
He then lived on my aunts landlords property until he died.
I first saw him when my aunts went to live on this property (400 acres) for the second time, I was about 5-6 and I just fell in love with him. He was so gentle and lovable that I couldn't believe that he was not being loved by someone. So I 'adopted' him and renamed him Spotty (we found out that his original name was Charlie). He was ok to ride for a couple of year, only walking around of course (by this time he was about 20).
Spotty was the first horse I actually felt like I owned, he was all mine to take care of. I used to go down to my aunts just to see him, and now the feeling of him not being there when I go down there, makes it harder to live with.
I have heard of one particular story about Spotty when he was living with the young boy, it goes like this:
Spotty and this boy had somehow managed to get tangled in some barbed wire and Spotty had fallen over. This pair had been stuck for about half an hour (30 mins) before someone found them and in that time, Spotty had not once tried to stand up, in case the boy fell off or hurt himself. Spotty stayed down until the boy had successfully been taken out of the barbed wire, when he tried to get himself out of the tangle.
I know that some people will think that Spotty was pretty stupid for not trying to get up and for staying in pain for that long, but I personally think that it was extremely courageous of him to do that. I mean, how many horses do you know of that would actually do that for their owner or rider? I can't think of many.
I have only one thing left to say:
I wish that I had the chance to say goodbye to you,
You were like a wish that came true,
A wish of a horse, a wish of a companion,
Now that you have died,
And after I cried,
That wish has changed,
Changed to wishing that you were still alive.
Wishing that I could give you just one more kiss,
They are now, my only wish.
I love you Spotty, thank-you for letting me share part of your time here on earth, it was one that I will remember for the rest of my life!
Lots of love forever
Sarah
Australia
