In my fifteen years,
I have come across,
what you can call,
the strongest souls,
that I will ever come across.

They have come,
in the strangest of ways,
in the oddest of forms.
The form of horses,
four strong horses.

To me they are,
the truly strong,
the truly loving.

What memories they have left me with,
memories of sadness,
memories of strength,
memories of love.
Memories that have impacted my life,
in ways nobody can comprehend.

The strength of Haros,
rearing back,
falling to the ground,
out of pure exhaustion
from fighting a devastating colic,
only to stand again, still as a rock,
while Mandy said goodbye,
to him,
to her best friend.
And then walk confidently
to what would soon be,
his final resting place.

Dreamer being charming as ever,
her leg broken,
so badly,
her composure never faltering,
until her owner left.
Only then did we see,
how badly hurt she truly was,
how strong she truly was,
just to ease her owner’s pain.

Zanzibar standing,
standing as he usually would,
his right hind leg resting.
The only difference being,
his flaring nostrils,
his sweaty flank,
and a hump in his back.
His intestine broken in half,
but he stood there,
calmly,
in cold sweat,
while we all said goodbye.

Finally my boy,
my angel,
he stood so strong,
through all the times,
he had that devastating illness.
He stood strong,
he stood tall,
until what he beat,
too many times to count,
took him from me,
and into God’s arms.

Haro’s strength,
Dreamer’s courage,
Zanzibar’s loyalty,
Picaro’s will,
to me are all inconceivable.
How they withstood so much,
‘till the very end,
just for the ones they loved,
I will never know.

They stood,
with grace,
‘till the end,
‘ till they had a chance at goodbye,
‘till they showed us the true meaning
of love,
of strength,
of courage,
of will.