RASF Golden Gazon
May 13, 1986 - August 14, 2004
This morning, after a long battle with a bad colic, we lost the battle to save a wonderful old mare and had to let her go. As I cradled her kind and ageless face in my hands, we said goodnight for the final time to RASF Golden Gazon.
Gazon was one of those mares that just sticks in your memories. By the beautiful *Bask son El Shaheen and out of a Gazon daughter, "GiGi" as she was sometimes known around the farm was of beautiful old bloodlines. Not Egyptian, but a very refined mare nonetheless with absolute near perfect legs and feet (taking into account the founder issue). She was well balanced with substance and a long, snakey neck that just screamed quality and presence. The first time I saw her was as a young mare, cavorting in a huge pasture with her then 3 month old colt. She was golden, and the sun reflected off of her in envy as she flew with grace and presence... snorting her defiance to the wind. I was captivated and that memory of her is the one that comes to mind the most.
Several years passed and through a friend, I found out this beautiful golden mare was looking for a new home as her owner had decided to get out of the Arabians. We debated over getting her as now she was of an elderly age, 18, had been foundered and the gorgeous golden colt that raced the wind with her that day so many years ago, was now a grown 10 year old gelding. Our better conscience would not let us let her go through a sale where her end would be certain when we saw her condition, underweight and rough coated and Shauna, Vince and I went to pick her up.
Still a beautiful lady, she took to her new home at Century Oak as expected, with class and style. Spending many days in the small paddock with her 3/4 sister SS Storms Sheen, she had quiet lazy afternoons under their tree discussing the finer points of maredom and being quiet kind matriarchs for us all. She was bred to Ibn El Tareef twice, although we suspected she had either not taken or had taken and possibly absorbed the foal. She had gained weight wonderfully and her coat shone and the problems with her feet seemed to be in her past with careful feeding and maintenance. We were planning to try a hormone regime next spring and try to get her safely in foal to Eagle Amir.
Friday evening when I came home Gazon was not to be seen hanging out with the other mares in our back paddock. A brief look for her down through the woods found her down where she had apparently been for some time. Vince and I got her up and I called the vet to come see to her. Shauna arrived shortly before he got there and we did our best to make her comfortable. Through all of this she maintained her dignity and was the epitome of a lady. Through the night despite the pain medications and oil we had administered, she worsened and it became apparent as dawn came that we were not going to be able to save her. The decision was made to end her suffering and let her return to the Rainbow Fields.
At about 8 a.m. this morning, the barn and paddocks were quiet and still as the other horses watched our trek to the high pasture and the vet administered the medications that eased her journey over the Bridge and she left this world as she had lived, with grace, kindness and gentleness... her head in my hands as we watched her go.
I am sure her arrival to the Rainbow Fields was much as I remember her all those years ago, full of light and sunshine, her tortured feet no longer in pain and her twisted tummy healed and whole again. She most likely arrived with her tail in the air, dancing in the wind and snorting in defiance at sunbeams chasing her glorious golden coat in envy of this marvel.. in awe of this beautiful Arabian mare.
Good night to our beautiful golden Daughter of the Desert... you will never experience pain or hunger again, but instead will dance in the light forever.
|
"Tez" babysitting Shauna Campbell (then age 4)
RS Letez (Geym Witez x Blue Angel) was my first Arabian rescued from a riding school. He had been a very successful English Pleasure horse during his show career but when I met him he was nearly 300 pounds underweight and had a huge sarcoid tumor on his sheath that took 3 surgeries to correct and cure. I was so lucky to have found this horse as this grand old soul went on to teach me not only that age is just a number, but he taught me to ride correctly with his ever so gentle reminder "Surely you mean the left lead" when I got confused. He also taught my daughter to ride, and was an ambassador for many children and even gave my grandmother her last ride on her 80th birthday. He was every embodiment of what an Arabian horse should be.. he was my friend, my trail buddy, my show horse and a sweet and gentle companion and he utterly sold me on Arabians for life. Tez passed quietly in his sleep one night leaving a very empty spot in our barn and we miss him more than we can say. May everyone have the chance to be owned by such a grand old gentleman at least once in their lifetime.
|
Tanaali and Tiaara
The mare Tanaali was given to me by a lady in Georgia who had really liked my stallion. She had loads of old bloodlines and was a very pretty, very elegant moving mare when we got her at age 20. They had had some trouble getting her in foal but with careful breeding and Regumate we managed to get her in foal and through the early stages on her pregnancy. When she was about 6 months along tragedy struck. A troubled child from my neighborhood decided it would be fun to shoot her with a bb gun..taking her eye and her sight on that side in the process. We had her treated and they had to administer massive doses of antibiotics and pain medications for her. She nonetheless carried her filly Tiaara to term and gave us a very beautiful, very correct and very precious dark bay filly with no white. Everything was going well and she had adapted well to her blindness on one side but when the filly was three weeks old, I went to the barn in the morning to feed and found Tanaali was dead apparently from colic having shown no signs of this coming and no chance of treatment as at 10 pm the night before, she had been up and eating her feed and nursing her baby. The filly was left an orphan, but like her mother adapted well and was doing well apparently.. gaining weight and just being a baby when tragedy struck again and I came to the barn when she was about 4 months old to find her dead in the large box stall she was sharing with another weanling we had at the time. We had noticed earlier that she would go into deep sleeps and was it was hard to wake her but to this day I don't know why she died.. perhaps it was the drugs they pumped into her mother during her accident when she was pregnant, perhaps an accident that night tho there were no marks on the filly and no signs of distress.. it looked like she had just gone to sleep. I like to think she was too precious to stay here and had things to do in other pastures. Some very old and cherished bloodlines were lost with this filly and it saddens me still to think of her sweet face waiting for her milk in the morning during the time she lived in my backyard. |
Debonaire
Deb was my very first horse ever. Of unknown but suspected Tennessee Walking Horse / Arabian breeding, he was a great kids horse. There were days we would go and be gone all day riding the dirt roads and fields around my home in the countryside. Whether it was down the side of a busy highway, or chasing cows, running barrels, jumping homemade jumps in the back field, or carrying me around like an indian with nothing but a rope around his head for a bridle this horse did it all. He frequently had kids crawling all over him, under him and around him and was so gentle and kind, but could turn on the speed and was more than ready to run anytime I wanted to just fly. I had to sell him at age 18, right after this picture was taken actually, due to family and job obligations at the time, so I found him a good home where he was loved and taken care of. Unfortunately I lost track of him after that and I still wonder how he is and where he is and how many others he taught to ride. He firmly installed in me a love of horses and riding that has lasted my entire life. He was my best friend for nearly 14 years and would be 30 years old or more now, so I have no idea if he's still alive and well but gut feelings tell me he is on both counts. |
Century Oak Arabian Sporthorses
Email Us
|
