We are just crazy (fill in the blank – horse dog, cat, bird)____________ people. That’s how some people view us. We love our animals like our children. We care more for them, than we do ourselves, in most cases. My animals see the vets more than I see my doctor, dentist or whoever. What they really don’t get is when we lose one of them how much we grieve. I don’t always understand how much I can grieve.

I’ve buried 20 horses, 9 dogs, countless cats and assorted other animals both wild and part of the family. It never gets any easier.

Now I board older retired horses and horses that have been injured, and will never be sound again. I love each of them as though they were my own. They are all my children. So when I lose one it devastates me.

I lost one a week ago. The youngest of the bunch. No reason. I run a series of emotions – pain, hurt, sadness, anger, confusion. You know the big old WHY? Most times I think I take it harder than the owners. They know their horses are done with their useful lives and just want them to be comfortable until they cross the Rainbow Bridge. They all have new horses to play with and when the one horses crosses the Rainbow Bridge, they are sad, but can put more into their new horse.

Of course I have all the others to care for and love, including my own, but there is still a hole. There’s one less bucket of feed, one less horse to care for and love. In this case one less horse to nudge me for “just one more carrot” nuzzle me and lick me. He was a happy horse. Loved to play, loved his buddy, he spent his days rejoicing in life. His celebration of life always lifted my spirits. He was also the bad boy of the bunch. He loved attention whether it was caused by positive or negative means. My instant reaction was no! but I couldn’t help but smile and love him anyway. It’s just who he was.

His owner will miss him because he was up front and in your face for attention, after a really bad start, but now she can afford to give her new baby the attention and help she needs.

Oh sure I know another one will come my way, but just like all the others, he was special. They are all special in their own ways. I will always smile when I think of him, and he will always be with me.

There is nothing in the Bible which says that our pets will be there in Heaven, but I truly believe they will. God knows every sparrow that falls. God does not tell us everything about Heaven, but as Pastor Cole once said “when you get there whistle and if Rover comes running, you know they are there. If the animals were in the Garden of Eden, why not Heaven? We know there will be animals in Heaven, why not ours?

In Honor of Lou.