Have you ever had an animal in your life that really touches your heart? I have been lucky to have several in my life, and Little Red happens to be one of them. Every time I would look at him I would laugh and smile; I couldn’t hug him enough. He brought me so many special memories that I would like to share and perhaps bring that laugh and smile into your day.
Last Sunday I received a call that Little Red had passed away due to a severe colic. To my knowledge this was the first time he was ever sick. He was a rock! This mighty little guy entered my life about 14 years ago as a gift for my nieces and nephews. At that time, I had a home with a small barn and Little Red lived in my backyard. The property included three fields. The first field wrapped around all except the front of the house with the back door opening into the field. The horses would only be allowed in this field when we were home. The field was connected to our second field that was fenced in around the barn.
Every morning my elderly dogs and I would go out the back door to feed Little Red and love on him. This particular morning I forgot to close the small gate that connected the two fields. It was very busy for me and I had a lot on my mind as I was preparing for a golf tournament fundraiser which would start the next morning.
After an extremely long day, I came home and noticed the dogs out in the field next to the barn. Hmmm….. that’s odd. How did they get out there? As I approached the front door the reality of the situation hit. I opened the front door very slowly thinking, ok, where is Little Red? As I opened the front door I immediately knew he had been in the house. Inside the front door, which opened to the first living room, a tornado had hit! My heart was racing and I was quite hesitant to continue to see what I would find. First and most important, where was Little Red? I turned to go through the dining room and kitchen. The kitchen had every drawer and cabinet opened and it looked like he literally took everything out of each one. As I entered the second living room, where we watched TV and had a large collection of DVDs, disaster struck. Everything was all over the room. I went toward the back porch and there he was standing inside and looking out. Somehow the door closed and he was locked in. The look on his face was, I know I was wrong but it was a ton of fun. Good news! He was totally fine so I opened the door to let him back outside. Time to address the disaster in the house.
I began this process with a call to a dear friend who I had just left after setting up the golf tournament. I was hoping she would drop everything and come over to help, but she was as exhausted as I was and simply said, “just pick up one thing at a
time “. So I chose a corner and started picking things up in the first living room - cushions on the floor, three candles and six small pictures in frames. Great, easiest room is done! Tackling the kitchen was not quite as easy, literally every pot and pan I owned, containers including lids, spices, silverware, you name it, he took everything out and covered the floor. The dining room was the only room that had actual damage, as he took down some large glass framed prints and other items. On a roll, I charged into the second living room, which made me laugh hysterically. When I said that we had a large DVD collection I meant it – well over 200. Each one had been nicely placed in a large DVD rack and he must have taken each one out individually and tossed it across the room. DVDs everywhere, mixed in with a few pillows.
Lesson well learned; I never left the gate open again!
On weekends, I would bring home my large black quarter horse Omar and Omar really like to play with Little Red. So I had designed a safe place for Red to go if Omar was playing too hard or he just didn’t want to play. It was a place he could go under but Omar could not. I heard a lot of running around that had been going on too long so I went outside to put a stop to it, only to discover Red, 1/3 the size of Omar, was actually chasing Omar! Loved it.
One Sunday I was doing work around the yard and one of my friends stopped by for a moment to get something from the barn and didn’t securely lock the gate, just kind of pushed it shut. Well, Little Red saw everything and he was gone! I didn’t see this happen so I didn’t know which way he had gone. I grabbed my halter and started walking. I passed a neighbor on a ladder and asked him if he had seen my pony. He said, “No but a really large dog just ran that way”. I suggested to him that this might be my pony and his reply was, “I know what a pony looks like”. I looked around and there was no sign of the little guy so I headed back home to grab my car and some grain. I drove up the road a mile and there he is grazing in a big green field. I called him and he came running. Phew, got him, but I also have my car now. So, being ever so resourceful, I get in, put the lead through the window and slowly start driving home. I’m sure we were a sight for all the neighbors.
Where my house is located used to be full fields for horses but over the years it turned into more of a housing development and now very few horses live there, other than Little Red and a few others, and very few neighbors know anything about horses. I can only imagine what they were thinking as we drove down the road that day.
Thanks little guy for all being a part of my life. RIP my friend.
Donna Blem