We adopted Brandy from the
Federal Bureau of Land Management when she was about eight months old. She
was a "Wild Mustang". She was only a baby. It was February 1991. She still
had her winter coat and was a fuzzy little thing. She was so frightened.
We also adopted two burros at the same time and as soon as we were able to,
we put her in with them and she was fine after that. We had to keep them
in a pen the first few weeks until they got used to their new
home.
Brandy was such a joy. The
first few years she was inquisitive and always wanted to know what we were
doing when we were mending fences or working on something out in the pasture.
She had to be right in the middle of things...in the way.
She grew into a
beautiful Chestnut creature and in time was easy to handle by me, the
farrier and the vet. She would always whinny when I would come out the door,
hoping I had a treat for her. At mealtime, she would come running from the
other end of the pasture with our youngest burro braying at the top of his
voice running after her in hot pursuit.
In 1996, when Brandy was
six, she had her first bout of laminitis in the spring and then again in
the fall. Fortunately neither case was severe. Then in 2000 she developed
a serious eye infection, and after treating her for about six months with
many injections and fluid drainings, she lost most of her vision in her left
eye. That same year she developed laminitis again and this time it was much
more severe. We had to put corrective pads on her for a while and were able
to eventually get her sound again. She was always such a good
patient.
Approximately June of 2004,
she developed a severe case of COPD/Heaves and was treated aggressively for
that. She would seem to get better and then it would flair up again and we
would start the treatments all over again. This went on for about eleven
months. At first I would give her shots to help her breathe and she was so
good. She would stand there patiently while I did it as she knew she was
going to be fed right afterwards. She trusted me completely and sometimes
I feel like I let her down. .She was struggling to breathe again as the summer
heat started and died suddenly on May 10, 2005. She was only 15 years
old.
There will never be another
horse like Brandy. She was my baby and I loved her so much and I know she
loved me. I miss her so much.
Bev Frisbie
Brandy 
