my dad had a favorite horse... this horse had personality... at feeding time he would heard the other horses into a holding pen and close the gate on them so he could be the only horse to greet my dad with the bucket of grain. He would jump the fence and come up the house and stand politely at the front door for my dad to take him for a morning ride. You put an adult on his back (not my dad) and he was a handful... put a little kid on his back and he would do everything he could to make sure the kid didn't fall off.
When he got to the age of 18 or 20 (we didn't really know how old he was)... he would lay down and not get up... for long periods of time... he was in pain and it showed in his eyes... and my dad went one morning out to the pasture where his horse was laying there not moving... held his head cradled in his lap for a few minutes... and then stood up and shot him through his brain (we couldn't afford a vet to come put him to sleep). I never saw my dad cry until that morning... but he cried the entire time. AFAIK, my dad never rode another horse (even though we had a horse ranch).
= new reply since forum marked as read
