08/27/2024
6 years ago today we added Phillip and Bree to our family. Today we said Until we meet again.
A little longer than 6 years ago we managed to see a post online saying old riding horses needing a home, don’t want to send to the meat man with a phone number. Within an hour the post was removed but we had already made a call and arranged to go meet them. I was injured from some sort of horse accident but Emi came with to ride them and certify they were sane broke old guys.
Within days of them coming home Phillip proved himself invaluable, he moved into lessons with complete and utter ease. Bree took a little longer to get into the swing of things but Phillip knew something about Bree that we didn’t right away. Bree was partly blind. Once we realized that we got to work helping Bree gain as much confidence as he could to help him find his way in a world he couldn’t entirely see.
Over the years they both impacted hundreds of lives. Bree wasn’t confident being a kids horse for very long so older and bigger riders that helped him feel more supported became something he appreciated. Phillip would always be the first to the gate if we needed someone for a lesson. Phillip found his passion in Medieval Games- in another life he would have chosen to be a jousting horse, charging to the quintain and proudly bearing a rider with a sword or spear. Both of them however loved trail rides the best. We never got to experience their first love- riding in the mountains, but we took them on every trail ride that we could. They were sure footed and eager, diligently following the trail and keeping together, boosting the confidence of the most timid of riders on the trail.
These two beautiful souls were bonded long before we had the privilege of joining them to our hearts. Due to their age and how much they relied on one another it was the talk of years about what would happen when it was time to say goodbye to one of them. Phillip helped Bree feel confident in facing his fears, in dealing with the darkening world, whenever Bree would come in he would call to check where Phillip was. When we took one and left the other behind they would get so excited to see another appy or another red head. As this year progressed we knew that the time was coming soon, they were both getting tired, their bodies were failing and we knew that if we said goodbye to one that the other would mourn so much that they would suffer. Together they’re at peace, running through the skies to join our growing herd in the heavens.
"But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the
Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before." From the Chronicles of Narnia Last Battle CS Lewis.
Thank you Kaitlyn Clark for helping memorialize them forever.