As a little girl, I lived
and breathed the most powerful animal on earth. I was so amazed when I heard
their hooves beat the ground and when their voices reached the farthest
distances, it was like music. As a grown woman, I still intake every single
breath of the smell of their skin, every chance I get. I've been in love
for years with something that, when I feared, I could go to and feel comfort
and safety. When I needed someone to listen and not talk back, just be there
and rest their head on my shoulder or just...stand below me as I sit on the
fence and think. Caught my tears on his nose, and in one case, my blood because
he actually hated for you to touch his nose, and I once attempted to kiss
it and he threw his head up catching me in the mouth.
In one instance he saved
my life, in another he bucked me off. My life, the day he stumbled and I
went falling to the ground, he jumped over me instead of trampling me like
he could have. I opened my eyes and only saw his belly, he was stretched
out above me and didn't move until he knew I was alright. They struggled
to get him to move, but he refused. And the time he bucked me off, I landed
straight on the top of my head, he was just playing and feeling good. I never
blamed him, he always took good care of me.
So many memories flashed
across my eyes that windy Sunday evening as I saw my good friend
laying peacefully on the ground, body mangled. My heart broke. My insides
ached as, for once in his life I grabbed that sweet soft warm nose and kissed
it as many times as I could, catching my tears just one last time. I was
angry because he didn't deserve what he got, to be chased until he broke,
to worry his last days away. I never knew animals could be so cruel to each
other (Dudley was attacked by another horse surprisingly, I've never seen
anything like it). I just wish someone would have listened to me, I'm
no expert but I knew my friend, and I knew he was worried and I knew something
was bound to happen. "They'll work it out..." and they did, and now my oldest,
most best friend in the entire world is just a memory.
Dudley...I'm so sorry I
wasn't there to comfort you as you took your last breaths. I was there for
you through so much in your lifetime, all of your aches and pains, your stomach
and colicing late at night, and I couldn't even be there for you through
your greatest pain. I'll never ever in my life forget you, your memory will
be etched into my brain forever and ever. Nothing can nor will ever replace
you. You meant the world to me, even when you were making me mad. I'm so
glad I got to spend that last day with you, walking in that place that I
thought would be heaven to you. I love you. I miss you. And if what they
say is true, we'll see each other again some day. I'll look forward to
it.
RIP Greyhound Smoke, "Dudley".
The truest friend a human could ever have...15 long years and then some.
Thank you.
Julia Burrell
Dudley 
