Farwell to Sparky, Our Dear Horse

May 4, 2008

Elaine Meinel Supkis

We had to put down our dear old friend, our war horse from the Alps, Sparky. He now lies buried in the middle of his favorite pasture overlooking the valley below. He was one brave, good horse. Difficult to tame, wild and too smart, he could open gates, doors, turn on and off lights and get into anything. He was of a very strong build and if he couldn't open a gate, he would smash through it.

He loved to escape his confines but if we called to him, he always came back and would even try to come into the house with us. Once, during a tornado, we took him and his beloved Molly, a mare, into the basement. He then had a jolly time, messing around while the tornado skipped over the roof of the house. He nearly got stuck on the spiral stairs to the kitchen!

He loved to run in deep snow. When we first hitched him, many years ago, to a sled, we thought he might have trouble pulling it. Well, he took off like a dolphin cutting the waves! We flew through the air, the snow flying high. Uphill on a mountain! He just loved to run full-tilt.

When we took him to the State Fairs, he thought he was there to fight all the other stallions. Once, he ran up to two giant Percherons and reared up on his hind legs and neighed a challenge which the two giants ignored. So Sparky decided to hang out with them and egg them on in the pulling contests.

Sparky loved performing for children. We had a routine for audiences. I would talk and Sparky would sneak over and gently pull off my scarf. 'Give it back, Sparky,' I would say. The children would yell, 'Give it back, Sparky!' and he would wave the scarf up and down to the cheers of children. Then, when I got it back, he would steal my hat. Then steal my hankerchief and then pretend to blow his nose. He loved doing shows.

He was scared of nothing, not even lightning. Even when a bolt came right through his stall. But he injured himself because of a bear that came in looking for sweetmix to eat. This is when his leg problems began. As he aged, this troubled him more and more and this year, he seldom even stood up. He got in the habit of eating while nestled on the ground. He was still quite cheerful about all this. But the last week, he was in greater pain. He couldn't even sit up. Last night, he tried eating grass sideways while laying totally flat on the ground.

This was a difficult day for us. But part of the responsibility of living with our animal friends is to see that don't suffer terribly. So we kissed our friend farewell. And I hope he is flying with Pegasus tonight across the Heavens.

Email this post

Culture of Life News Main Page

Comments

[larry, dfh]

Elaine, we are all saddened by your loss.

[D. F. Facti]

Oh, Elaine, how sad. I am sure you all are heartbroken. I will print out this picture of Sparky to put with my other treasured animal pics. Corgis and horses are likethis, you know. Maybe they will run the Pegasus blog in the Great Beyond.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Yes, dear Facti, we both took losses this year. This is the hard part of living long lives. But if we remember them all, this makes us better people.

[Jim Smith]

The invitable parting of the ways is still so hard to accept. Thinking of you and yours at this sad time.

[JSmith]

Dear Elaine,

You have my condolences on Sparky's loss. It's hard to lose a beloved pet; we've been there ourselves with our cats.

Sparky's in a better place now, galloping the celestial pastures pain-free.

Regards,

J. Smith

[Oops]

I am so sorry to hear of your tragedy Elaine. I have gone though similar heartbreaks more times than I care to remember. Know that I and others are thinking of you and what you are going through. Time does not "heal" all wounds but it does make them better.

[blues]

I am very sorry to hear of this great loss. At least he had kind and wise people in his life. I feel that is the most important thing.

[CT]

Beautiful stories, Elaine. You and Sparky both are lucky to have found each other. You should be proud that a guy like that was able to live up to his potential, enjoy such a life, and teach so many of us people through his actions. My condolences.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

Sparky was a murderous, out of control horse when I got him. We tamed him. For example, he attacked anyone who fed him. So I would walk up to him, he would lash out at me and I would toss his feed to the SHEEP. After a week of this, the sheep would rush over to Sparky to get fed and he was so hungry and fed up, he finally, finally figured out things and was gentle as a lamb and got ALL his food. To the great disappointment of the sheep.

When I first rode him, he rolled on the ground to get rid of me. I slithered over his belly and when he stood up again, I was still on his back! Then he tried to run into a tree so I made him stand there by tying the lasso around the tree. Three hours later he was bored to tears. After that, he went wherever we went because it was more fun. He got to enjoy going out, exploring.

He once chased our ox team through the electric fence so he could graze outside. That was a no-no. He was locked in his stall while Chip and Dale got to tease him through the window. Yes, animals do tease each other. Sparky then tried to figure out how to turn off the electric fence. It took me several days to figure out how he did it.

The oxen would watch him turn it off and stand next to him, so I ran over to see what the hell they were doing. The horse used his lips to pull the switch! Heh. A most interesting animal.

[CK]

13 and a half years ago, a friend of my wife called and asked us if we might be interested in a puppy. Her pedigreed chocolate lab bitch had gotten free and had an evening on the town with an unknown other. As a result, we took two of the unwanted mixed breed pups. King and Marty ( they were born on MLK's birthday.)
Big for labs they were. King was 115# when he succumbed to cancer a year ago. Today we had to send Marty to join him. They called it Canine Vestibular Disease. Marty had the equivalent of a stroke in a human 5 weeks ago. Kidney failure followed, the head hanging crooked all the time, not being able to climb the stairs, cortizone pills, loss of bladder control, then loss of sphincter control, no appetite... he had us for 13 years and 5 months.
Sic transit inglorious Monday. In a few days or a few weeks, the wife and I will go to the local SPCA, find a pair of mutt puppies or maybe a trio or a quad of them, bring them home and go through it all again.
We had akita/shepard mutts 29 years ago that we took from the SPCA, they lived long and prospered. We had our lab/whoeverhewas crosses. ... It hurts.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

My condolences, CK. Facti lost her beloved Corgi just last month. We all have to live with this and of course, the best thing to do is to find new friends. We still have lots and lots of animals here, by the way. But we know that once they make room in our hearts, they leave an empty space.

My beloved godmother said, before she died at 105, 'The living must carry the burden of the dead. This is our fate and our job. So let us remember and love them all.'

She was a very old Victorian lady born in the middle of that century, literally. She had 'momento mori' all over the place. For example, back before 1900, when people died, their hair was cut off and used as embroidery thread to sew flowers and wreaths. She had many of these upstairs with the South Sea shell collection and the huge egg collection she started back in 1880. I loved poking around there.

[Blake K]

What a beautiful creature. I've always enjoyed relationships with "difficult" animals the most. The skeptical, too-smart, initially antisocial ones seem to stick with you forever.

[Elaine Meinel Supkis]

True. Very true.

[JJ]

Very sorry to hear about the loss of your good friend, Elaine.
Perhaps this short (and rare) film about Trakehner horses is some comfort -- http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zr-LSBKYYQw

[cheap red bottom shoes]

you can count on me .

[Buy Canada Goose]

Call a spade a spade.