Our cute, feisty, indomitable mare, Party Girl, died recently of old age complications.  Party Girl banged her drum (aka food bucket)  and pawed every morning when I arrived at the barn, just in case I needed a reminder that it was breakfast time.

She had arthritis and some structural issues that made it difficult for her to get around, but she managed with courage and determination. (The vet said her difficulties were  more mechanical than painful.) She was always anxious to eat (especially carrots) and waited anxiously every day by her stall door, ready to go out to the pasture.

Party Girl attached herself to any new mare coming into the barn, while keeping the geldings in line, with her somewhat stiff, but very effective hind leg kick!

She lived a long life for a horse, 33 years.

Horses get so attached to each other, and whether it’s a loss by death, or horses being relocated by human transactions, they feel the loss deeply.

It was so sad to let her go, and especially heartbreaking to watch the other horses run out to the pasture the day after she died, calling and looking for her.

It brings to mind a line from a book I read many years ago, Traveller, by Richard Adams (who also wrote Watership Down). It’s a fictional book about Robert E.Lee’s horse and presents a Traveller’s equine view of the Civil War. Traveller, the narrator, notes as other horses come and go in the barn where he lives: “Horses are always saying good-bye.”

She will be missed!