Sundance came into my life on August 23, 2003. I had been at the beach
and when we came home there was a message from a friend that they had found
a gelding and a paint pony wondering in the woods with no food or water.
The Humane Society obtained these horses from the owner and they were in
foster care waiting for someone to adopt them. These two horses were attached
and they had to be adopted together.
When I first walked into
the barn I saw these big brown eyes looking at me just like a puppy in a
window. I walked into the stall and he rubbed up against me and that is all
it took, this horse was coming home with me. I went the next day and adopted
Sundance and Shaggy and brought them home.
Sundance only weighed 817
lbs when I brought him home. He just needed some TLC and some food, that's
what I thought that if I fed him he would get better. Sundance started having
days when he couldn't get up and he needed us to help him. After he would
get up he was fine and walked around like nothing happened.
One night when he fell through
the fence I knew that he needed to be somewhere safer before he really hurt
himself. The next day we moved Sundance to the Yellow Rose Stables. There
he had an indoor arena and people that could take care of him. I would go
everyday and see him and feed him his lunch because he was eating three times
a day and I couldn't bear the fact that he was there and not at my
house.
One morning I got a call
saying that he was down in his stall and he needed help getting up again.
Well, I guess he couldn't get up anywhere, I should have kept him home. The
people at the stables were wonderful and Jean really was his physical therapist.
She lunged him and had him trotting and before you know it he was running.
I went out on Saturday to
see her lunge him and see him run. He was the most beautiful horse that I
had ever seen. He had this run that just was amazing. I loved him so
much.
I had put over 200 lbs
on him and he was doing wonderful. There were times that I just wanted him
to lay there and sleep and go on but I guess he thought I wasn't ready for
him to leave yet. There were times when he was down and we were waiting for
help to arrive. I would lay there with him and tell him that I knew he was
tired and that I would be okay, just go to sleep I would say.
The following Tuesday at
7:30 am I got a call that Sundance was down in his stall and that they needed
help getting him up. It took about 20 minutes to get to the stable from our
house. I put the kids in the car and off we went. On the way there I had
this feeling come over me that I just couldn't shake, I knew that today was
the day. When I pulled into the driveway Jean came out holding her arms out
and shaking her head. I knew it, I hugged her and ran into his stall. I laid
there crying and wishing that I had been there to see him off.
They think that he had a
heart attack. There was a reason that I stopped to get coffee, I guess God
didn't think I could handle seeing him go. We brought him home and buried
him in the side yard. We have plans to make a beautiful flower bed on his
grave.
Sundance was my first horse
and I love him so much. Sundance was the most loving and caring horse that
I have ever come in contact with. He would lay his head on my shoulder and
fall asleep. He would lick my daughter's face just like a puppy. Sundance
touched so many lives in the few months that I had him and he is truly missed
by everyone.
Brandy Stanley
| This is a note that my five
year-old daughter wrote to Sundance on the morning we lost him. |
 |
Sundance 
