The first time that I saw
my horse, Wings, he was just 2 days old. I had been leasing his mother for
3 years and then the stable owners decided to breed her. I was just 13 when
Wings was born.
A few days after Wing's
birth, I found out that he was to be my first horse. I halter broke him and
taught him tricks like bowing, saying "yes" and "no" and counting and smiling.
I was the first and last person to ride him. Occasionally my friends would
try to ride him, but he was such a one-person horse that he would just stand
there and look at me as if to say, "Hey, that's not you up there, so I am
not doing anything." I had to teach him to let other people ride
him.
Wings was always the barn
clown and used to like to untie horses tied up at the hitching rail around
him. He used to unlatch his neighbor's stall door and let Ever Ready out
on a regular basis. Wings even used to jump the jumps in the ring when he
was turned out to play just for the heck of it. He had a heart of gold and
always did whatever I asked him no matter what. One day I was goofing around
and I put my hands up Wing's neck and told him "jump" and he did; up onto
a 3 foot retaining wall next to the riding ring!!!! He was only 4 when he
did that and had just started jumping with me on him. The only way down was
to leap off the ledge and that's what we did. Wings was fearless and I think
he used to like to see what new adventure his teenage owner would come up
with next.
I showed him in Hunters
for years and I can honestly say that he never stopped at a fence, not ever.
He let me know when it was time to retire him from jumping. After
that we used to take long trail rides. My mom also started riding him.
I kept him at a busy hunter/jumper barn so that he would not miss any of
the action that he loved so much. I bought new horses here and there so I
could keep showing. Wings was friends with them and used to enjoy turn- outs
with my other horses.
Wings was my partner in
crime for 24 years until the other day, November 9, 2006, when I had to let
him go. We taught each other a lot. He seemed to know that he was my horse
and never let me forget it. He was so easy-going around me, but he gave other
people hell. He was never mean, just really mischievious. I think that he
was just a one-person horse, although he never actually knew that he was
a horse. I know that he did not understand what was happening. He had developed
arthritis in his stifle joints and it was getting more and more painful for
him to get up. The other day we had to help him get up and the vet was already
preparing me for the worst. I never thought that he would go downhill so
fast and thought that because he was still fat and sassy and loved to run
and buck that it would be a few more years before he would have trouble with
the arthritis. I guess all the struggling the one day made him so sore that
even with help he just could not do it again. I sat with him and explained
that I had to let him go. I fed him carrots and lay with him just like I
used to do when he was a colt. I did not tell him goodbye and just told him,
"See you later".
Wings had just started teaching
my 1 1/2 year old son how to ride when he died. I know that even my son misses
him and does not understand why we have not been to the barn to ride his
horse in the past few days. We were not ready to let Wings go
yet.
Message to
Wings
Wings, you are
irreplaceable. No other horse will ever take your place in my heart. You
are definitely one of a kind and I have never seen another horse with so
much heart and honesty.
See you later, Wings.
This is not goodbye. For now, have fun playing in the fields in Heaven and
try not to miss me too much. I hope that you make a lot of friends. I know
that you will because you are so kind and playful and forever the clown.
I am just glad that you are young again.
I will be with
you some day and we can have new adventures.
See you later,
Wings...
He's Got Wings 
