This week’s ears photo was submitted by one of our readers, Karen, of her horse and companion of twenty one years, Wesley. She sent me this photo and recently sent a note saying Wesley passed away last week in his pasture. Thanks to Karen for submitting and our deepest condolences for her loss.
This is the view from atop my horse Wesley (reg. name Western Adversary) a couple summers ago. No particular story attached, but I thought the shadow was kind of cool, since it wasn’t photographed intentionally. Wes has been with me since he was 4 years old, unable to return to racing following knee surgery to remove a bone chip. We dabbled at a lot of things: dressage, English pleasure, trail riding, camping. The one thing we didn’t do much of is jump, because I was afraid of re-injuring his knee. When Wes turned 21, I tried to retire him; but he became so listless–seemed so unhappy and bored–that (talk about a complete change of strategy) we made a brief foray into the world of eventing instead, competing in mini-trials at the Intro and Very Green levels. It perked him right up again, and for me it was the realization of a longstanding dream.
