i still remember the day we got buddy. we orginaly went to this dude ranch to get this paint mare.
we read in the artical that she was "child friendly", but when we got thier they had one of thier hand men
saddle her up and warm her up. she wouldnt even let them get the saddle on her before she started acting up.
when they did managed to get her all ready, he got up and she was bucking away! so as we were heading
back to our car, i saw this brown eye scruffy old beat-up looking palimeno. mom asked me if i wanted to ride him,
and i replied "yes". so we saddled him up, and the hand man was still a bit shaken up from the mare, so i jumped
up first. and it was love at first sight. a gental giant, it was ment to be.
so we bought him on the spot, didnt take him home till 2 days later cuz our horse trailer was in for repairs.
but when we did, we had put him in a seperate pin away from all of the other horses, just for safety reasons.
an so about 3-4 days later we tested him and put in one of our other geldings in with him, and they were instant
friends.
and the first time i rode him when we first broght him home, i was still sorta learning how to ride, so it was good
for both of us. at the end of our lesson our bond just that one night was so strong, i remember right after i had
un-tacked him an gave him a few treats i started for the house for a glass of water and suddely, i herd this nicker,
i turned around an he was just standing thier nickering at me. so i sat thier a bit longer just giving him more love.
and all that summer and winter mom was basicly supplumenting him. giving him the nutrients that he lacked, and
extra hay because he was scrawny.
and that next summer after they were all done sheading, wow, just wow. his coat was 5 shades darker like a deep
gold and his mane was cream. just a sight to see.
and all that summer and the next 3 we were doing o-mok-see's and shows. man our first show, he was beautiful.
i remember that when were having our pretty pony night i looked at buddy's main and it looked like the wind was
trying to braid it. and i was thinking to my self " how the hell am i gonna brush this out, im gonna have to cut it!"
but shure enofe just running the knife through it a few times and LOT of detangler, we brushed it out. it was past
his neck and his tail draged for 5 more inches! he was so pretty! and that show we took 2 reserve chap and 2
5th place.
the o-mok-see's with him were wonderful, large long strides throught the arena. it was always so funny when
ever we would do "key hole". he would always stop at the beging of the posts and waddle throught an turn
waddle back and book it back. he was always quiet a character when it came to being in water. he would always
dip his face in bring it out and just flap his upper lip all over the place and get everybody soked.
but last summer, we had gotten another horse, a morgan named shadow. and i needed to work on him because
buddy was going to my brother. so i used shadow but it would never compare to useing buddy, cuz with shadow
it was abrasive at first. and this year of o-mok-see's our friend didnt have a horse to ride so we had offerd her buddy.
but then things took a turn for the worse, one night my mom went out to the barn because it was dinner time for
the animals, and noticed that buddy wasnt acting like himself. so i came out, and he had short shallow breath sholder
muscles were spazing out and his hind was wanting to go down. so Drs. Newman came over to our place that night an
gave him some medicins. the next day he was the same so he came up again 2 times and the second time he took
blood samples. he called us that night and said that buddy was menibonic. so basicly his body was shutting down on
him, his blood count was out of wack and electrolight were the same. so he offerd to have buddy stay over their
and flush him out for about $500 a night. when my mom , Linda, had told me this, i cryed because we couldnt afford it
an also if he was in that much pain, it would be more humain to put him down. so mom talked to dad that night
and decided that they could afford it for 2-3 nights. so we took him to Drs. Newman's. later that eveing we got a call from
him saying we better just pick him up and let nature to the rest. he had pumped 50 leater of fluid through buddy and his
number were just droping. that next afternoon we did i took him out of the trailer, he looked so tired and sore. so i went
and cut off one of his braids ( his hair was braided becuse the hair was tangling around the tubes and he wanted to cut it
but mom said no and braided it) and stuffed it in my pocket. and let him go into the field. i watched him walk away and he
turned back at me and sorta winked at me.
ironicly the next day mom had stubled accrose some blood and electrolights medicin to give buddy. and we would mix it in
with his molases coverd grain and watch him eat it. and he started doing increasingly better. to the point where he was running
around again. but his privates were still alot swolen so we tended to it with carona and this spray. the swelling didnt go down.
about 10 days from last monday we didnt see the horses, so mom went out to see where they were. but when she came back
she was in tears and she told me " buddy is dead" i couldnt belive it i just fell to the ground cry and she picked me up and just
huged me. so i ran out just to see him a slowly turnd the corner and saw him. he was peaceful so quiet he looked like he was
sleeping so soundly. but i saw his chest wasnt moving, so i went to feel his heart, it was still. i looked at his eyes, his once brown
eyes were a cold empty blue. He was gone. r.i.p. 5/23/12
yes he's phyiscaly gone, but he will always be in my heart.

Gabrielle A.