My name is Debbie and I would like to say a few words about a very special
friend who I lost on May 16, 2003. His name was Sunnie and I have no picture
because it hurts too much right now.
He was my best friend and he
gave me 10 beautiful years. He was 15 years old when we got him and I didn't
know anything about horses. I had always been captured by their beauty, but
I have been handicapped since birth and didn't think I could ride. Well,
Sunnie was my teacher, he took care of me when I didn't know what to do.
He could always feel my fear before I did. We bonded so well.
We went all over the state
of Florida on trail rides and they were the best times of my life. We even
went in the ocean together and it broke my heart when the sea weed made him
shake. He was scared but he didn't move.
He was not cared for when we
got him; very underweight and he lived out in a swampy pasture, so his feet
were a mess. It took 6 months of nursing him back to health before I could
start to ride him. He was very lazy at first. He knew I didn't know what
I was doing, but I learned and every weekend we were
somewhere riding.
Sunnie had a best friend;
a gray Arab named Smokey who he would always bite in the butt. Two years
ago I had to stop riding Sunnie because of a tendon problem, but he still
stayed in our back yard with his friends. He talked a lot, especially during
meal times.
The day he left me I thought
I would die. My husband and I were up 16 hours with him, and he fought, but
he had a real bad obstruction and could not pass it. I begged the vet to
end his suffering because his eyes told me he had to go. He walked all night
with my husband and finally he went down for the last time. My last
words to him were, I love you, and then I walked away. My husband held
him while he was put to sleep. I am an R.N. and I couldn't stay. I feel really
guilty about that, I hope he forgives me for I loved him so very much.
I have five other horses that
were far more expensive and papered, but Sunnie was worth a fortune
to me. No one seems to understand how hard this is. Some days are better,
but I see his grave every day and I look at the pretty flowers around it,
and I try to make some sense of what has happened and is he in a better place.
It's so hard not to give in to all the sadness and pain, and yet I know he
wouldn't have made it. I had to do it, but I know he lives on in me and I
feel him when I look at his friends that had a hard time that day.
This is my tribute to my beloved
friend. I hope one day you will nicker when you see me and I will be with
you again.
I love you
baby...
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Sunnie 