The End of an Era

She is gone. My good, brave wonderful horse is gone.
Half of my life we lived together. 26 years to be precise. It took a lot of time to get used to each other, she was only 3 years old and not ridden before.
But we had wonderful, magic moments together and when hard times came, me and my sons ate noodles for to be able to keep the horse.
Later, together with EG, we searched for a home where she could be happy as well and we came to this place with plenty of green pastures and space. The first thing to be transformed was the stable to give her a decent space.
Marquise, the big working horse became her best mate and kept her company. They had plenty of good times together.
But now had come the time to say adieu.
I had to let her go.

In hard times, I always stood beside her and a sentence from my grandmother's best preferred psalm came to my mind:
Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley...

The horse would listen to all my worries and whispers and always has been such a consoling friend, she never let me down. And she always seemed to understand. She let me fly over the fields at fastest speed and the wind blew all my troubles away. It did not need a lot to get me back into track, just going to see her, smelling her, feeling the warm breath and I knew that we would be alright.

Au revoir, Ariosette.