Saying Goodbye to the boys.....

 

We said our farewells to the boys on Sunday.  There wasn't a lot of tears for me, but I know there was for Chris.  He had bonded with the boys over a period of time.  The "boys"?  well, that would be Harley and Blue.  Harley is a bay, and Blue is a gray.  Chris had found a home for them due to us selling our house.  It was indeed a sad moment.  One that he will remember for a while.

We bought Harley in 1997.  In July.  We had bought him for both Chris and Liz.  Liz had always wanted a horse, plus this was her 'bribe' to get her there.  I must say, though, he's the only horse I know that actually HUGS you by putting his head over your shoulder, closing his eyes, and sighing deeply.  We'll all miss that.

And then while I had been away in California trying to help my Dad, Chris decided to buy Blue as well.  "well, Kath, you KNOW that Harley is getting on in age, and is a bit hard to ride,...well, I saw this horse in Ian's paddock that was just CRYING out to me, ''take me home, take me home"....so can I keep 'im?  huh,huh?...pleease!!!"  well how do you say NO to that?!  I had figured that Chris had missed me, because while I was away, he had also brought home a cat as well, not to mention the 2 lots of litters we had from the dogs because somehow the MALE dog got locked up inside the shed with the FEmale dogs.  He had a menagerie by the time I got back!  Liz thought it was WONDERFUL!!!

And then last year in 2007, Chris broke his back on Blue and that ended his riding, much to his dismay.  So the horses became pets after that, which was okay by me as I LOVE feeding Harley his favourite. Pears.  Nice juicy pears.  Blue was a bit particular.  He likes carrots and apples.  But he was very cautious about us.  Now Chris just has to whistle and both those boys come a running.  Blue wasn't one to have his feet done either, but bribery with a BAG of carrots works wonders!!! 

But now, well, ....it's time to say goodbye to the boys.  Goodbye fellas.  I hope you like Roma as much as you did Springbrook.  We've enjoyed having you.  I will miss you.  I'll miss watching you eat in the paddock.  I'll miss watching Harley bully Blue into the stable to get away from the horseflies.  I'll miss watching them run and kicking up their heels.  I'll miss feeding them their fruit and carrots.  But most of all.  I'll miss the hugs from Harley.

Goodbye boys!  I love you.