Irreplaceable

Today was a very sad day for our family, and for Brynn and me especially. Today we lost our sweet Penny pony girl. She and her buddy, Patty, were on pasture across town. I drove past and looked at them yesterday, but today, right in the middle of being totally engrossed in a project, I had a strong feeling I should go check on them. I dropped what I was doing and drove the 5 blocks to their pasture with a sinking feeling that something was wrong.

When I got there, Patty whinnied and trotted over to greet me, acting a little upset, but Penny was nowhere in sight. As I started to walk the pasture, looking behind trees and around corners, Patty followed me, but kept looking toward the back corner of the pasture where a large apple tree was. I went back there, half knowing what I would find, but hoping for the best, and there she was. It looked like she'd gone down without a struggle, and hadn't been there very long, but there was no light in her eyes and I knew she was gone.

What a loss to our family! We got Penny almost 4 years ago as she was being retired from a dude string in Arizona. Our vet looked at her teeth and told us she was probably around 23 years old - just the perfect age and experience level for our 5 year old little girl. She was a little beat up, and somewhat jaded toward people, but was such a sweet, safe, kind old girl that we instantly fell in love.

(photo taken 11/05)

Over the last 4 years, we've just come to love Penny more and more. With her smooth gaits and quiet nature, she was the perfect choice to teach many beginners how to ride and babysit visiting cousins. She helped Brynn gain so much confidence, we always knew Penny would never hurt her, and she never did. If we could custom design the perfect horse for our little girl to start with, we couldn't have done any better than Penny.



The first years we had her, she wasn't very friendly and at first she wouldn't even take treats out of our hands. But I think she could feel how much we loved and appreciated her, because after a while, she came to us in the pasture, learned to love treats (though she ALWAYS took them politely, of course) and even began liking belly scratches in the summer time.

And we'd like to think her final years with us were happy ones. We took good care of her feet, bought her suppliments when she started to show her age a little, got a special pad and saddle for her saggy back, fixed her teeth, and saved her the best hay and cookies.

And never was a pony more loved by her little girl.........

(photos take 7/07)



Unless it was by that little girl's mom, who, understanding how dangerous horses can be, fully appreciated a horse who was as safe as horses can possibly be and who watched over her child.



We love you, Penny. We don't know what we'll do without you. You're irreplaceable.