How to Bury a Horse

A Poem by Profkim

Arabians were bred to be hardy, desert warriors; they are versatile and quick to learn. But they underestimated your capacity to love. Your previous owner kept you tied to a post all day and all night. The hair never grew back across your nose where the halter band used to pull, but you learned to trust again. JL Sultana, standing thirteen and three hands high, a mare, eighteen years old. We gave you two years of love and attention, an abuse free retirement.

My daughter found you at night, out behind the grain bin. I found her curled up against your back,on the cool ground, barefoot and in shorts. She sobbed and sobbed, blamed herself, and refused to leave you. She wanted to cover you with a blanket but that would only make her feel better. Two hours later I convinced her you were gone; we should leave and come back in the morning.

It’s raining on burial day. She picks the corner where she last saw you standing, in the back triangle of the far pasture. Two men unload a backhoe, drive it carefully around your too still body, bring down the yellow bucket and begin digging, six feet down, eight feet wide. Overnight your legs have stiffened, eyes glazed, teeth fixed in an unnatural smile. Your long black tail has fallen softly on the ground behind you as if we had placed it there, a lovely contrast against your red bay coat. We watch through tears and horror as chains are wrapped around your legs, then looped over the backhoe’s bucket. The excavator lifts you slowly and gently, but the sight still makes me turn away. He drives across the field to the fresh dirt, eases you down, then jumps in to loosen the chains. He comes back to tell us you must have suffered a stroke, or perhaps an embolism due to the blood coming from your left eye.
There’s a chill in the October air, and a light rain falls slowly on my head, your hooves, our hearts.

© 2011 Profkim

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Reviews

Morrigan Nicole

i recently had one of my horses die. His name was Bogie and he was a sixteen hand pure white appaloosa with one spot, like a thumbprint, on his side. he used to be a lesson horse until he started to go blind due to a disease we though was moonblindness. he could only see shadows. those owners got rid of him, he was on his way to become dog food.
an animal rescue team saved him and were trying to find him a home for a couple of years when we stumbled upon him while looking at another horse for a friend of ours, a Quar-Ab named Tobi. who has become my horse instead.
through these people we got Bogie and gave him a home. he could still be ridden at any speed, he was the best on the property, a blind miracle.
a few months ago, he began to lose wight. we thought this was because he paced in circles at night because it was dark and he could not even see shadows. he would walk in his stall for hours on end, bumping into things and what not until the sun came up the next morning.
he got so thin, he looked like a horse skeleton wrapped in skin. we had no money to call out the vet. we are very poor. we could have shot him, but we did not even have a gun, then, we would still have to call out sac rendering to pic up his body.
one morning we went out to feed the horse and he was lying on the ground, his white coat caked in mud. he was dead.
blood was splattered all over his stall, puddled on the ground, and stained his coat. we had no idea what happened. my mother though he may have had brain cancer. that explained his blindness. but the blood?
it poured from his mouth and nose. all of it. his body was emptied of all his blood.
it was a horrific sight.
we called sac rendering, and he was picked up. i kept a braid of his mane and pinned it on my wall next to the others that belonged to my horses who have passed away.
not exactly a pretty tale, but that's reality for you and it breaks my heart nonetheless.

Posted 12 Years Ago

i recently had one of my horses die. His name was Bogie and he was a sixteen hand pure white appaloosa with one spot, like a thumbprint, on his side. he used to be a lesson horse until he started to go blind due to a disease we though was moonblindness. he could only see shadows. those owners got rid of him, he was on his way to become dog food.
an animal rescue team saved him and were trying to find him a home for a couple of years when we stumbled upon him while looking at another horse for a friend of ours, a Quar-Ab named Tobi. who has become my horse instead.
through these people we got Bogie and gave him a home. he could still be ridden at any speed, he was the best on the property, a blind miracle.
a few months ago, he began to lose wight. we thought this was because he paced in circles at night because it was dark and he could not even see shadows. he would walk in his stall for hours on end, bumping into things and what not until the sun came up the next morning.  
he got so thin, he looked like a horse skeleton wrapped in skin. we had no money to call out the vet. we are very poor. we could have shot him, but we did not even have a gun, then, we would still have to call out sac rendering to pic up his body.
one morning we went out to feed the horse and he was lying on the ground, his white coat caked in mud. he was dead.
blood was splattered all over his stall, puddled on the ground, and stained his coat. we had no idea what happened. my mother though he may have had brain cancer. that explained his blindness. but the blood?
it poured from his mouth and nose. all of it. his body was emptied of all his blood. 
it was a horrific sight. 
we called sac rendering, and he was picked up. i kept a braid of his mane and pinned it on my wall next to the others that belonged to my horses who have passed away.
not exactly a pretty tale, but that's reality for you and it breaks my heart nonetheless.