Farewell to My Friend Dusty

Orion's Stardust
(Dusty)
April 1st, 1978 - May 4th, 2010

I knew the day would come but it snuck up on all of us. Dusty didn't come up to eat that day and my sister went looking for him. She had grown close to him since she had been taking care of him for some time. When she found him down in the pasture, she called me. She was crying and I soon followed suit. It was a terrible day for us.

I have written about Dusty a couple of times over the past year or so. He was my friend for over 25 years of our lives and I will never forget him. We rambled through the woods, creeks, and over many miles of roads over our lifetime. He was there to carry me through the loss of both of my grandmothers and countless others since then. Dusty was a nut but he was a faithful nut.

When I first got Dusty, he could count how old he was by pawing his foot on the ground. He could also "shy" at every living thing (and non living thing) and throw me off his back quite easily in those early days. He took me to my first horse show where he won champion (not me- I was totally lost- he carried me through it). His brother (adopted brother) picked on him but he loved him- a lot. Poor old Spirit didn't eat for awhile and stood moping after he lost his brother, Dusty.

Dusty's passion in life was eating. I know, horses like to eat but Dusty lived to eat- not eat to live. He loved sweets of any form or fashion. During berry season, he drastically lost weight each year because he munched on blackberries, mulberries from the trees, and wild strawberries down in the pasture. He had the life of luxury. One "neigh" and he had my mother tied around his little "hoof". She would faithfully bring him loaves of bread to eat (twice a day!!). If someone had the time to crack pecans for him, he'd gobble them down too. He hardly ever took the time to eat actual grass. He wanted goodies.

Dusty was an old horse and had lived the last 15 years or so in retirement. His life was easy and I'd suspect that it was much better than his earlier days before we got him (he was abused by a previous owner) I'm just glad he came into my life and the life of my family. We all loved him.

Dusty died alone under an oak tree. His favorite mulberry tree was not far away so I'd suspect that is where he had been spending his time munching. I've always called him a nut because of his funny antics and I think it ended up being very appropriate that he was buried under a "nut" tree very close to his mulberry munching spot.

I'll miss him but I know it was his time to go........