Remember the TV program “Friends 90210?” Well this is Friends 21203. Never watched the show the first time around, but the name stuck with me.

How many of you, when you were young, would go places and instantly make new friends. Whether it be at the park, beach, playground, or neighborhood, wherever there were other children, you made friends. Children would run up to parents and say “this is my new best friend.” It didn’t matter if they only played with them for a short time, or that they would never see them again, it was their new best friend. Now we used the term BFF.

We all know that horses are a herd animal and love the social end of being together as much as the protection of the herd. However, within that herd there are always best friends.

Separating two horses that are BFF can be tramitising. It doesn’t matter if the friend moves to another barn or pasture, or if the separation is caused by death. Their reactions can be simple or off the wall. Some horses go into deep mourning for long periods of time, some will accept it and try to move on, just a little depressed.

Friends come in all shapes sizes, and species. Age doesn’t matter either.

I have a 9 yr. old Thoroughbred whose best friend is a 27 yr. old Quarter Horse. To watch them play (hard) makes me a nervous wreck. The TB will rear and buck and annoy the old dude. The old dude makes faces at him when the TB is not looking, and when he gets too annoying will just reach out and bite him. The old dude just goes right back at him, but they truly love each other. The TB will protect the old dude from anything.

The QH will only do one lap to the TB’s 3 or 4 around the pasture, then he will just stand and watch until the TB is done being silly. When they are in their stalls, the TB puts his head over the divider and watches the old dude until they both go back out.

Of course meal times are a different story. Then it’s every horse for himself. The old horse will share. The TB is not good in that department.

I watch them interact, and sometimes I wonder what’s going on in their minds and conversations. They are both very smart horses. The lines of communication are always open. They are like two bothers who fight, but would do whatever was necessary to protect the other.

We all wish we had friends like this. There is more to this story, but I’ll save that for next week. It’s quite amazing and I still can’t believe it myself.