Friday, May 28, 2010

#265 Abby the Horse

Her show name was Ima Alibi, but her barn name was Abby. She was born in 1984, a quiet little beautiful bay Quarter Horse. She had 2 white socks on her back legs, a star on her forehead, and a little white spot on her nose. For the first years of her life, she lived as a western show horse with her girl and her other people in Connecticut. Abby had a brisk walk and a lovely lope. Then she got a new girl and mostly did dressage. That was when Abby lived in a big backyard in Hopkinton, Massachusetts with a little Haflinger pony named Winston. Then one hot day a few years after that, another new girl came to ride her. Abby didn’t mind. She would let nearly anybody ride her and she loved getting washed down with water and liniment oil afterward. A few days later, the new girl came back with a trailer and Abby rode out to the end of Massachusetts in it, Martha’s Vineyard. On the ferry across the water, Abby’s new girl sat in the trailer with her and fed her Skittles. After that, Abby mostly lived at a little rough board barn and her two new girls—Martha and Emma—spent a lot of time with her and took care of her there. Abby mostly did dressage with Emma and hunters with Martha and she always gave any challenge her best try. She knew what her people wanted if they even just shifted their weight a little bit. Abby made it look effortless. But Abby mostly liked hacking around the barn, going on trail rides, and running through the fields. There were summer fields and winter fields and Abby mostly had her own. In the summer, Abby stayed out at night and would also eat outside. Even if Abby was all the way at the back of the field, she could hear her people get her bucket out and Abby would race up to see them, sliding to a stop nose-to-nose with Emma or Martha. For a while, Abby had another girl too, Krista. Abby liked being with all of them, as well as her pony buddy Goonie, who shared hay with her in the paddock. Abby also loved to go swimming (horses are very good swimmers). She had wonderful manners and was super sweet. Little kids could even run around her feet and Abby would stand absolutely still so that she didn’t step on them or kick them. There was even a 2-year-old girl who used to sit in Abby’s food dish and hand-feed her. When her people cleaned her stall, Abby would rest her chin on her person’s shoulder and just kind of nuzzle her. All anybody could do was nuzzle her back. On May 13, 2002, Abby got sick (colic). She was distressed and in pain. The veterinarian treated her, but it didn’t help. Her people had to get her off the island to get her more help. The Steamship Authority agreed to hold the last ferry of the night for them, but the ship inexplicably left without them. Abby’s people kept vigil with her in her stall all night and the next morning they boarded the ferry and made it to Tufts, where the medical team was remarkable, but it was too late. Abby had to be put down later that morning. Abby knows how much her people loved her and how hard they tried to save her. Her people all miss her so much. Everybody loved Abby. Abby loved everybody back.

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