I had a beautiful Arabian mare, she was thirty years old and had seen many days of rodeos, play days and children's lessons. She had blue gray skin and fine white hair, and when the sun hit hers certain way like at dusk, she looked blue.

It was coming on winter that fall, she wasn’t putting on any weight and her winter coat wasn’t coming in very good. She was my lead mare, all the rest of my herd followed her.

I knew she wasn’t going to make it that winter and the kindest thing for her was to put her down so she wouldn’t suffer. I called my vet, took her up there and stayed with her until her last breath. It’s hard to say goodbye to such a sweet gentle soul. I still cry about it.