Finding out the fate of my old horse was saddening and heartening at the same time.

Loves First Stop, circa 1993

It was a bittersweet phone call, but one I’m glad I made.

Previously on this blog, I’d written about the AQHA Greener Pastures program, which allows AQHA members to track horses from their past. If any of those horses ever become unwanted – at risk of meeting an ill fate – the member will be notified and will have the chance to either provide the horse a home or help find a suitable home elsewhere. The idea is to prevent horses from falling through the cracks, because too often, you hear of horses being shipped over the border to slaughter before their previous owners – who would have stepped in to help – even knew about it.

I signed up to track Loves First Stop, a gorgeous grulla mare whom I had bred while I was still in high school. While I was in college, I sold “Stopper” to some very nice folks in Indiana. I had hoped she was still with them, living a glorious lifestyle, but I signed up to be her safety net in case their circumstances ever changed and they needed to disperse their herd.

As it happened, my friends at The American Quarter Horse Journal liked that blog entry and wanted to reprint it in their magazine. (Honestly, I think they just wanted to giggle a little more at the picture of me in my late-80s show clothes!) But while I was comfortable talking about Stopper on my blog – where the Indiana owners could make comments and set the record straight in case anything had changed – I didn’t want to publish her story in a print magazine without first clearing it with her current owners. After all, it was possible that she had been sold again in the 15 years since she went to Indiana and the new owners hadn’t updated her registration papers. It was also possible that she had died or, worse-case scenario, already fallen through the cracks to an unknown fate.

So I dialed up Indiana and got the son of Stopper’s owner on the phone. Sadly, he told me that she had, in fact, been put down after having foundered. She and two other horses had gained access to a bin of corn. Always the pushy one, she must’ve eaten the most because she suffered the worst case of grain-induced laminitis. The other horses recovered, but she did not.

He sounded truly sorrowful about the turn of events, and he said his father lamented her death, too. They had really liked the little mare, who had given them one foal, a dun filly, and had been their dependable riding horse for many years.

We continued chatting, reminiscing a little.

He told me of how he’d won their county fair with Stopper (they kept her original barn name) and then went on to place fourth at the state fair out of a large class. I think he was being too nice, but he complimented me for the western pleasure training I’d put on her. “Push-button” was the word he used. He remembered, too, how much she always loved coming in from turnout, back to the security and coziness of her stall.

Bittersweet is a good way to summarize the call. It pained me to hear of her death and, of course, I wish it had turned out differently for her. But I also was given a picture of a mare who’d been treasured and who had given a great deal of joy to her owners. And that, truly, was what I had wished for her. It’s what we wish for all our horses, isn’t it? To love and be loved.

So, Stopper … Godspeed … and enjoy your greener pastures.

Happy riding!
Holly Clanahan
Editor, America’s Horse magazine

Don’t miss the fun, educational and heart-warming stories in the print version of America’s Horse! It goes to all members of the American Quarter Horse Association, and it’ll also keep you in the loop on Association news. We want you to belong!