This is what we are all about, the horses.
“A lovely horse is always an experience.... It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.”
Downy was born on April 17, 1979 and I purchased him in April of 1982. Downy is Registered Appendix Quarter Horse, being 1/2 quarter Horse and 1/2 Thoroughbred. I have long said that he ended up with the worst part of both breeds, he tends to be somewhat flighty and is incredibly stubborn. He has spent much of his life wandering around Northern Virginia, quite literally. One Christmas he strolled down Georgetown Pike in Great Falls, that was fun for all of us. Another time, when we were leasing a barn in Oakton, we arrived to do morning feeding and turnout and he was just gone. His field mates stayed home, knowing that they had a good thing. I can only imagine the shock he gave the elderly suburbanite when she saw him in her back yard early that morning.
I take a picture of him every year on his birthday, this one is not the best picture, but it is the most recent. He turned 35 years old April 17, 2014. He seems to be mostly blind, his hearing seems questionable and he has a most unique gait, but he remains a pain in the a**, that is probably some of what has kept him going. I frequently think that I'm prepared for his passing, but I suspect that is not precisely true.
Downy left me on April 24, 2015, I still have to look up when it happened because it still feels like a day or so ago. I miss him every single day though I suspect he is having too much fun bossing everyone around again to worry about me.