A Gift Horse

Have you heard the saying, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”?   

Is this saying really about a horse?  Well, in the beginning it was and this is why:

A horse’s age can be determined by inspecting its teeth.  Thus, looking a gift horse in the mouth could be considered rude because the person is essentially examining the horse to see how old it is – it might be so old that they don’t want it!

And to put it into perspective, we know just such a horse.  She walks slower, her eyes are not as bright, but she eagerly runs to the gate at night knowing that a warm dry stall awaits her!   Her owners were gifted her through an Estate, and they knew that if they didn’t take their dad’s old horse that she would not receive the care and love that she had earned through her life of service to him.   She was special to him and continues to be special to them.

Sally is the dam of the stallion that went to visit her now-deceased owner at the hospital.  That picture went viral as the stallion arrived at Peterborough Regional Hospital and her owner was brought from the Palliative Care Unit to see him.  It was a surreal day.  

Can you put a dollar value on taking a beloved horse which has served its humans well, who looks at you with an appreciative eye, and who gives you a sense of doing the right thing? 

Sally (Majestic Sal) is 32 years young this year, which translates to over ninety in human years.  She has lived a good life, raised several foals and had a successful show career.   Sally is a registered Quarter Horse and as such, was considered deceased by her Registry since 2014 when she attained the age of twenty-five years.   

After her owner passed, his daughter took on the care of old Sally and in honour of her father and the “gift horse”, she continues to give old Sally everything she needs for a comfortable retirement.   

Submitted by Janice Ecclestone, Inukshuk Farm

www.inukshukfarm.ca