You see...Prince had become a rock solid corner stone for our horse drawn carriage service. He was brave with things that would have panicked any lesser of a horse. Balloons, sparklers, jump houses, dunking tanks, children running under him, even helicopters landing and taking off just a few parking spaces away. Nothing bothered him. He was that horse you took to any job where you felt there might be "surprises" that were not mentioned in the contract, and were not in the least bit horse friendly. Which unfortunately is way more often than you would imagine.
Prince was that horse that no matter what you might encounter you could relax knowing that he was your partner that day. Not only unflappable but a true joy to drive. Fingertip light and always mannerly he was wonderful to deal with from the morning bath to the ride home in the trailer. One you could always count on to be 110%.
Five years ago during one of his baths a friend of ours found a raw looking sore in his mane about the size of a quarter. We of course took him to the vet only to be told it was cancer. Upon removal and biopsy it was found to be a more aggressive kind than the kind that is most common to grey horses. We were given good odds provided he did not have any internally which the vet of course could not say. The life expectancy for metastasized cancer in horses is 3-5 years.
I do not want to go into the details of his passing but only to say he was a true champion right until the end. It literally still breaks my heart in two to think about it. He was such a kind and gentle soul of a horse. Impossible to replace, impossible to forget, impossible to ever get over losing him. To be honest I have not had the zest to continue our carriage business since. It is now a going through the motions thing, a constant longing for what was, and not what is. Maybe that will change but I am not certain at all that it will. Don't get me wrong we have a small herd of exceptional horses, and hope has it that one of them, one day, will steal our hearts the way Prince did and restore the joy he once brought to it. Now just a few months down the road his loss is still very raw. Still leaving that sick knot in your gut when you are reminded of it.
Long before we lost Prince a many years online friend of mine who also has been in the carriage trade had been asking me for a small swatch of his beautiful white tail hair for some braided jewelry she makes. I meant to get some to her but never got around to it. With tears flowing and choking back the pain that fateful morning before the back hoe got here to dig his grave I made sure to get some of Prince's tail hair for Lois. Last week I got a small package from her and in it was the most beautiful braided jewelry she had made with some of his hair. I wear a bracelet and a necklace with a heart on it every single day. It helps to know that something of him is always with me.
There really are no words to express the heartache, pain, and sense of loss we feel from losing a great partner. The confidence he brought to every outing, the brave, brave, soul that was our "Prince". Never forgotten, never replaced. We can only hold on the the precious memories he gave us. To our detractors that think that those of us in the horse drawn carriage industry are motivated by self serving needs, you are so off base it stings. I can only shake my head and wonder if you have ever truly loved an animal as we do ours.
Prince may you now romp for eternity in the most perfect of pastures. You certainly earned that ole boy, now that your work here is over. Don't forget to look for me old friend when we meet again one day.
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Ah, he was so well loved! What a blessing to have had him in your life.
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