11/02/2024
The reason for the very existence of Black Magic Farms has left us.😭💔💔
It is with heart wrenching sadness that we announce the passing of our magnificent mare, Xena Kismet. She knew how to live, and she did it until she couldn’t anymore.
As the multitude of health issues and old age crept up on her, we knew this day was coming, but we had hoped that we could give her at least one more glorious summer with us. Yet while she valiantly tried to hide it, we could see just how badly she was hurting, and so we decided to take her pain into our own hearts and let her go peacefully.
Determined, courageous, opinionated, stubborn, classy, and smart, Xena was a unique, special and very refined Friesian mare. She was born to a surrogate thoroughbred dam who taught her early on that wherever you were going, you always needed to get there very fast. She held true to that teaching and thus earned the nickname, “The Hot Tamale” from those who knew her.
I purchased Xena when she was three weeks old. She was the first mare I had ever owned, and she set the gold standard by which all other mares to follow her were judged by. She epitomized the quote, “Once you have won a mare’s heart, you have won all of her. In exchange for your best - and nothing less - she will give you everything.” And that she did…
Despite breaking her hip in a freak accident at a young age, she never hesitated to try for whatever I asked of her and so much more. She refused to give up and tried her heart out for me every day. While it took her awhile, she earned the title of Sport Elite for competing at the Prix St. George level in dressage - a rare distinction few Friesians, especially mares, ever achieve. In doing so, she also allowed me to earn my silver medal. She also gave me a beautiful c**t, who has himself done extremely well in the show ring, including earning his Sport designation.
Xena was particular about everything. Not only would she not eat until all humans were out of the barn, she wanted her food in a particular place. She was picky about what she ate, how she wanted to be groomed, how much affection she would tolerate, and who her pasture/turnout partners were. And if she was dissatisfied - boy you knew it. She was not the type of horse to show you a lot of affection, but those humans she loved knew it - whether it was to politely ask you for some mutual grooming or a head rub, or that low nicker that mares use with their foals when she saw you. She absolutely adored Tom to the point where you could actually see it in her eyes when she looked at him, especially when he sang her song to her. Xena had a very special girlfriend relationship with Cassie Benson, whose training and riding skills were so very instrumental in helping her achieve all the success that she did.
Fearless on the trail, she could trot as fast as most horses could canter and she loved the feel of competition. If you knew one thing about Xena, it was that you could NEVER tell her she couldn’t do something. Jumping? Bring it on, I can do it! Horse parades? Look at all my admirers! Costume classes? I am DEFINITELY the prettiest one here! She would not take any attitude from other mares, geldings or even stallions, and knew how to put them in their place with just a stern glance or a pinned ear. She took her job as alpha mare very seriously and I will so greatly miss seeing her vigilantly standing watch over everyone in the barn, gazing off at some unknown threat in the distance. Every time in life when I was faced with a challenge I thought I could not overcome, I would think to myself, “Xena could do it”, and I would press onward. She was my inspiration.
She was known to everyone as the Warrior Princess, and while the name aptly fit her, she was in reality a Warrior Queen. And for 25 years she ruled our herd and my heart.
Run free without pain my special girl. The most difficult thing in the world was to love you enough to let you go, and I will readily endure a lifetime of missing you for the honor and privilege I had of knowing you. I love you with everything I am, everything I’ve been, and with everything I have ever hoped to be.💔