Radies Lady Music (Lady)

                      In Loving Memory

                            1997-2002

Lady was one of the original horses that came from Idaho.  Ironically, she and Moxie were the first two to come to Wisconsin on that buying trip.  Moxie died five weeks later (See Magic Babies).  Lady died suddenly in December 2002.

The experience of her death and the weeks that followed will be something I'll never forget because of the amazing things that happened.

That December morning started for me with a tearful call from my farm manager telling me that we had a dead horse in the pasture.  She drove in the driveway and almost immediately knew something was wrong.  For about the last month, she always sort of looked at the woods somehow expecting to see something, but she didn't know what.  That day, her worst fears were confirmed when she saw legs sticking up in an unnatural position in the woods.  The horses who would normally be mingling around the large round bales were standing off to one side by the driveway huddled together in silence.   They all solemnly watched her as she drove in.

She walked down to the body.  The other horses never moved.  It was obvious nothing more could be done.  There was a large amount of blood coming out Lady's nose, her body was stiffening and there was a thin layer of ice on her eye.  There was no sign of a struggle or even the slightest thrash mark.  It looked as though she just dropped like a stone.  What happened?  Was she shot?  Poisoned?  What about the other horses?  Were they at risk too?

My manager did a few chores to gather her composure and called me with the news.  I called the vet and we waited to see what had happened to our Lady.

I guess we didn't know what to expect and were pretty stunned ourselves over her death.  I guess we knew she'd have to be cut open in order to find out what happened.  We just weren't prepared.

When the vet came, we stood by in the freezing cold choking back tears as we watched the vet open Lady up and pull her apart looking for an answer.  He was very sensitive about the matter, but it was a job none of us enjoyed.

He found that she had a tear in her stomach that had apparently been leaking and rotting out her insides for quite some time.  There was no way to know how or when this happened.  He said she probably didn't experience much discomfort until the end and then just dropped.

Her death was something that touched all of the people and the horses.  The grief in the horses was obvious, some more than others.  Snickers was visibly depressed.  She seemed to know her mom was gone.  Lucky, my Rocky Mountain horse took over as Snickers protector and the leader of the herd.   Some horses would come up to you and just want you to cradle their heads in your arms.  The most noticeable and sometimes dangerous behavior was at feeding time for about two weeks after Lady died. 

We feed them in the barn.  The all come in, go two to a stall and leave after feeding.  Most days, this is a pretty quiet or at best a little disorganized. 

At the risk of offending people with conservative viewpoints, all I can say is you may have changed your mind as to the existence of spirits had you observed what we lived through during that time.  However, you want to explain it, there was something there at especially feeding times that especially Lucky saw or sensed.  The horses would come literally stampeding in and out of the barn causing us to jump into stalls.  It was obvious that they were looking at specific things, snorting and blowing at seemingly nothing and bolting in and out of the barn.

I did have an animal communicator visit the farm to settle some issues regarding Lady.  She first visited the farm when Moxie died and has been back a few other times.  I've taken classes with her to hopefully help me be a better caretaker of my horses.  Asia Voight has a long track record of extremely on target readings.  She is used to dealing with skeptics and can make a believer out of most anyone with her gift of being able to hear the animals.  Being able to communicate with the animals was particularly helpful for them in dealing with their loss as well and helping them understand what happened to their friend.  Whether you believe in this or not, some pretty weird and miraculous stuff was going on.

I'm always amazed at how big and strong horses are.  Their skin is tough enough to take a bite or kick from another horse but yields to a gentle touch.  They definitely have feelings.  They are very sensitive to any change in their environment and grieve when a member of the herd is lost.  I have always had a soft spot for animals.  Watching them and living with them makes me all the more committed to making sure the horses that come from my farm find like-minded people if they go to new homes.

Lady appears to have had the purpose of bringing me Snickers, the mule and Cowboy, my stud prospect and possible replacement for Magic someday.  Once her purpose was fulfilled, she left us.  She was greatly loved and is deeply missed by her horse and human friends.

Bloodline  

Foals

Snickers the Mule

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