Once we had a man working for us who would never simply call a horse by its name. He always had to add “That ol’ [insert horse’s name here] horse.” Today at 2PM, That Ol’ Mariah Horse passed on to her reward. We discovered her lying on the ground when we returned from a hike, and hurried home to call the vet. Before he arrived, Mariah had died.She was the fastest horse we ever had — fast as the wind, in fact — and boy could she jump! I witnessed her at the ranch one morning, tied up in our corral at the feed trough. I looked away and heard a loud thud. When I looked back, she was standing completely on the other side of the trough, having made a single forward leap and spinning 180 degrees over a four-foot-high railing. This wasn’t a running leap, but a standing start while being tied on maybe a two-foot lead rope. Incredible!
When horses shed their bodies, they go running off to the heavens to see what they’ve been missing for the last 30 years or so of earthbound existence. I told Mariah that the Sombrero Galaxy was looking really fine yesterday on the Astronomy Picture of the Day site, and hope she takes the time to see it for herself.
Photo: Hubble Space Telescope/NASA
2 comments:
Sad news about the loss of your horse. You make her sound like a very special one.
Beautiful picture though - I hadn't ever heard of that galaxy before tonight.
Let me offer me belated condolences at the sad passing of Mariah. I remember riding her once in the summer of ’95 through Piute and French Canyon. She truly did move like the wind.
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