by Jenna Boen
It all started on a Christmas morning in the year of 1995 when I got my very first horse. A man came to my door after all the presents were unwrapped. I opened the door and he said, "Hi, Santa left something at my house for you and asked me to deliver it," with a big smile on his face. I glanced up at his hat which read "National Saddlery" and the first thing that came to mind was a saddle so I looked at him and said, "A saddle?" He smiled and shook his head. I peered around the corner of the house and spotted a big stock trailer. My eyes lighted up and a big smile ran across my face, "A HORSE???!!!" I screamed and then bolted off across the yard and around the side of the trailer until my eyes settled upon a white Appaloosa gelding. He was the most beautiful horse I had ever seen. (of course he was beautiful he was my first horse!)
Me and Smokey didn't hit it off right away. He sure fooled me into thinking he was the craziest horse alive. I started taking lessons on him and soon we were off to the rodeos to start barrel racing and pole bending.
Later we discovered a local 4-H Horse Club called the "Rowdy Riders." We were active in parades and we performed with the drill team and the pivot team. Just when things were really going my way my life came to an immediate halt. Smokey had gotten colic. (a dreaded sickness among the horse world which can be deadly or minor) If treated soon enough it is no big deal. But Smokey got sick in the middle of the night and it wasn't discovered until the next morning. We immediately had the vet out to the house, but he had limited equine knowledge so we hauled him to an Equine Vet. (Specializes in horse only.) Smokey stayed hooked up to an IV for a week. Things would look positive one day and then look down the next, but soon the vet said he could do no more for him and to just take him home and let him live the rest of his life at home with me, my family, and Sugar his stablemate.
When Smokey arrived back home there was a happy reuniting between him and Sugar. The 10 days to them was like 10 years. They played around in the pastures for half and hour. I was soooo happy to see Smokey looking like a little colt again.
He had lost his appetite from the first day of his sickness, but a week after he arrived back home he quit eating completely. That's when I knew I wouldn't be spending much more time with my best friend. I stayed home for a few days and kept Smokey company out in the pasture. Petting him and brushing him as he lay in the hay, trying to make him as comfortable as possible. Sugar could sense it too and she seemed to not want to get close to him anymore.
After missing too much school my mom decided that I should go back. My first morning back January 21, 1997, it wasn't even 20 minutes into first hour that I was called out by my sister. We sat in the office holding each other and crying knowing that I was about to make the hardest decision in my life, to let Smokey live any longer in pain or to humanely end his suffering. When we arrived at home I spent and hour with Smokey holding his head in my arms and crying into his silky white mane. Soon the vet arrived and I said my final goodbyes to the world's greatest horse. I looked back at him with tears streaming down my face and whispered, "Be strong Smokey. I love you." He looked at me as if he knew and pricked his ears forward for the first time in a week and nickered softly to me. I went up to the house and watched the vet approach the horse with the needle. I screamed as I seen the needle penetrate into his skin, and no more than 4 seconds later the vet backed him and helped to the ground. I knew I shouldn't have been watching because that scene still goes through my mind today.
Things weren't exactly cheery for poor Sugar either she whinnied loudly as they lowered Smokey into his grave. (I left so I wouldn't have to watch him) My dad told me that as he was walking back from helping cover Smokey's grave Sugar galloped to the corner of the field and nickered as if she had seen Smokey or something. One more thing, a week after Smokey's death we found out Sugar was pregnant. (Not from Smokey he was gelded) Sugar produced a beautiful bay filly 3 months later. Smokey will never be forgotten by anyone who ever knew him.