This is a very odd subject, but interesting. I wrote this a while ago, but wasn’t ready to post it yet. But after the post last week, I think I’m ready now.
We like to place our thought process and emotions on our animals, but what really happens in their minds. Actually I’ve never asked an animal communicator to ask one of the horses, but I’ve witnessed a lot of horses crossing the Rainbow Bridge, and had the opportunity to watch their foals and pasture mates reactions.
I had a Thoroughbred pasture mate to my first horse. He would stress so bad when I would take her out for the day. He would run the fence line and scream the entire day that she was gone. When it came time to put her down, at the young age of 36, I didn’t know what I was going to do with him. We walked her away from the paddock and he started screaming, which he continued to do for about on half hour. Then he stopped abruptly, and never called to her again. He didn’t see us put her down, but he knew. How???
Another horse I had, the vet couldn’t prove it, but he assumed the horse had cancer internally. He was not the cuddly, in you pocket type horse, he was strictly business, but my husband and I loved him dearly. We’d give him love, attention, and carrots and he’d be aloof, but when he thought we weren’t looking. he’d put his ears forward and watch us walk away. He loved his job as a hunt horse, but when we found out that he probably had cancer, we stopped using him. Within two weeks he just stopped eating. If he couldn’t do his job, he was out-of-here. The day came to put him down, the vet was schedule to come at 4:00 p.m., his wife was an animal communicator and had told Mac what was going to happen. I bought a 5 lb. bag of carrots and went out to give it to him. He was standing by the gate looking up the driveway, waiting, this is something he never did. He took only one carrot from me. When Bob got home I told him that Mac would only take one carrot and he said, oh he’ll take the carrots from me. He went out and Mac just kept looking up the driveway and he only took one carrot from Bob. The first needle was barely in his neck and he dropped dead. He knew. He was ready.
My soul mate Desert was showing signs of colic, but not the usual colic, this was different. For three nights I slept in the barn with him, but he wouldn’t go in his stall, he went in Toy’s stall (Toy died the year before). The last morning he wanted out of the stall before day light. I made him wait since it was still dark, I wouldn’t be able to see him in the pasture. He walked out to a pasture he wasn’t used to being kept in, went to where another horse Lad used to lay, he laid down in that spot, he laid there for only a minute or so and got up and walked out. (We put Lad down the same time as Toy, Lad was also 36). Then he asked to go out in the pasture with his usual friends Magic and Zoey. I really didn’t want him to walk around that much but he was pawing at the gate. I let him out, they were standing near the gate, he nosed with them, and walked across the pasture to the tree that he used to stand with Toy, Magic, and Zoey. He stood there for a couple of minutes then came cantering back to the gate looking and calling for me. As he approached the gate I saw he was in distress, I ran out to him and he collapsed at my feet, he died in my arms. He knew. He wanted to visit all his favorite spots and his pasture mates, but he came back to me. That was heart breaking in itself.
I’ve lost 18 horses in the last 50 years. Mostly from old age. They each have taught me about life, myself, but mostly about horses.
Magic was an Alfa mare, even to the end. When we put Toy down she got down right ugly. Ears back running around screaming at us. She bucked, kicked, just angry that we would take her soul mate. She gathered up the rest of the horses and herded them up to the far corner of the pasture and wouldn’t let them come back. Toys legs were so full of arthritis that he couldn’t walk to the feed bucket anymore. We had an animal communicator come and speak with Toy before that day. Toy said that our horse Shadow, who was killed by lightning years before, came to him and told him that if he came with her that he could run again. Toy and Bob loved speed, he was an Appendix Quarter Horse race horse, then a ranch horse before becoming a hunt horse. He wanted to be released from this old body and run like he used to.
When it was Magic’s turn to cross the Rainbow Bridge she was true to form. She’d had bad stifles for years, but wouldn’t stop running. After all, she was in charge and had to keep her eye on everything that went on around the farm. Her hind end just gave way. She couldn’t get up or move her hind quarters. She would spin around on her butt and then collapse again. I sat with her on the ground while we waited for the vet. Zoey came over to nuzzled her muzzle, very softly, very lovingly. Magic, the witch that she was, slowly picked her head up off the ground and bit Zoey in the nose. Yup she was going out the way she lived. She didn’t want sympathy. She was going to be in charge to the end.
Another Mac, my boarders horse, was totally confused. I brought him there to watch Lad leave this earth so that he would understand that his best friend was gone. He kept going over to Lad, as his body lay on the ground, and smelling him. Then he would look around and call for him. Now Mac wasn’t always with the program so I didn’t think much of it at the time. That is, not until we lost Maggie, the mama Clydesdale. I knew this was going to be hard. Bobby loved that horse and that horse loved Bobby. Her baby Dawn was 12 years old by now, and they had been together since Dawnie was born. Once again cancer was the cause. Maggie was 25. Bob, our neighbor Gary, who came over to give Bob support, Dawnie and I were there while our wonderful vet agreed that it was time. She always believes that it’s really not time until she gets there and sees it for herself. Bob was with Maggie, and Dawn was between me and Gary, tears running down our faces (not Dawnie, just us humans). Dawnie was not on a lead line, she just stood there. As Maggie was given the tranquilizer and went down, Dawnie walked over to her mother and put her nose on her. Then she walked back to us. Bobby was on the ground with our vet and the last injection went in. With that Dawnie went back over and touched Maggie again. This time she started screaming and running around looking for her. She kept going over to the body and then run around. She finally ran out of the pasture, through the barn screaming and ran up to the top pasture looking for her mom.
I asked our compassionate vet what was going on. She said that Dawnie knew that her mom was gone, but she didn’t know where. This said to me that the body isn’t as important as the spirit is to them. The next day was a show and Dawnie was still looking for mom. After that she stopped looking and just went on with life. Over all the years, and all the horses I’ve had to let go, Maggie was the hardest because of Bob and Dawn. Now Dawn just lost her boyfriend, and she did the same thing. While we were working on him and gave him the tranquilizer she just stood there watching. After we gave him the last injection, she waited a minute or so, and the same thing. She started trotting back to the barn screaming for him. I told the vet. You don’t even have to check if he has died, Dawnie just said so, he was gone. Even though it’s been weeks, she still longingly gazes up that hill hoping that he will return.
I guess in closing I can say that they know something about the death of the spirit, but mostly I can say that they accept it, and go on.
In my heart I know that God created these beautiful creatures, and I look forward to seeing them all again. Young, sound, running with the wind, beautiful, majestic animals, with manes and tails flying. No more pain, arthritis, or belly aches, just pure joy.
In Loving Memory of all my beautiful horses.
I will always love you, and miss you, until we meet again across that Rainbow Bridge.