Pebbles






1993 - 2004


My dearest Pebbles, my one, my only. They say that you only have one special friend in your life. And you were mine. Pebbles was my hero.

We both loved each other to bits. She was a bay Standardbred, ex-trotter or pacer, and ex-cart puller. I bet, when she first came to our place, she thought she'd already died and gone to heaven. Horse Heaven.

When I first met her, I hated her. How could you hate a horse? I don't know but I just hated her. It's funny really, how something you hate can turn out to be the best thing that's ever happened to you. About 6 months after I'd met Pebbles, she began to trust me, and I began to trust her. This is where it all started.

I trained her to follow me everywhere, and she was the only horse in the paddock who would come when I whistled. Eventually, we had to put the horses in a different paddock.

Pebbles had just recently been given to me, along with all the vet bills (given to my mum, I am only 11 years old!) and so we moved her, Arnie, my mum's horse, and Izzy the other lady whom had originally owned Pebble's pony. After a while at this new paddock, when they had settled in nicely, me and my new friend decided we should train her to saddle. So we did.

We were expecting her to do badly, but the only thing she hated was the bit! We even got to ride her twice! On the second ride (and last I ever took on her) we noticed she had pretty bad diarrhea and two lumps had started to develop under her stomach. We asked around, everyone seeming to think that the lumps were only fat.

Then one day they got worse. we rang the vet, he took a blood test and rang us later to say he had given up on her. So, we rang our other vet, who knew Pebbles well by now, having to come twice a week to bandage her injured leg. He tried all he could, and so did our farrier, who is really good with horses. For a while there, she was getting better, then things took a turn for the worst. She wasn't eating, she had diarrhea, she was dehydrated, we had to drench her. Something every day! We tried out best, but it didn't work. One night our friends called us. They were sitting in the stable where she was, watching her. They told us it was bad, but not to come down. We did anyway. We all knew it was the last night we would spend with her. That next day, through all the tears, I said a long good-bye to my dearest friend, and then put her out of her pain.

She is now buried in her favourite rolling spot under the trees in her paddock. I know that she isn't gone, yet she has shed her skin, exchanged it for wings, and flown away. I know she returns, some nights, some days. She watches over me, she knows we loved her.

I'd like to thank all the people that were there for us when this happened, and Pebbles for giving me the best experiences of my life. Even now, knowing what happened, I still don't regret ever getting her. For when I feel upset, I think of all the good times we shared together.



My Mare,
My Horse,
My beloved friend.
I will not leave you till the end,
and when I do,
If your spirit is true,
you will return,
with wings, that's all.
To watch over me,
to love me,
to gallop with your friends,
My Mare,
My Horse,
My beloved friend

Kate














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