Mr. Starpasser (we called him Dexter) was a bit of a brat. I always thought it was because he was super smart and his brain was constantly trying to figure things out.
When it was feeding time he was always starving, and he would tell you about it until you finally fed him.
Once he got his food he was such a messy eater. He would take a mouthful of hay, dunk it in his water amd pace around his stall while he ate it. By the time he was done he had hay in his water, water all over his stall and a messy face.
When he was getting his shoes on he was wiggly and when we were doctoring an abscess in his foot (which he often had) it was always a two man job. One to hold him and one to work on his foot.
We had to secure every gate with a locked chain because he could open anything and would let himself (and everyone else) out. And if he was in a stall by himself he was noisy and always rattling something.
I loved the commotion he brought with him. He was busy and had tonnes of personality, he was a total troublemaker and he drove Mom crazy.
They say animal spirits are different than ours in the sense that they can jump in and out of other animal bodies. No matter which animal you have, the spirit that belongs with you will be with you, and their spirit returns to you in a new body after their bodies have given up. Also, they can pop in for a visit.
It’s become a joke around the barn that now that Dexter is gone, when I’m around he will “pop in” for a visit because otherwise well behaved horses will all of a sudden become obnoxious without me doing anything to provoke it.
I was at the barn yesterday visiting with Mom and her friend who has recently bought a new horse named Luke. Luke was into everything, eating blankets hung in the fence, his lead rope and even tried to take a drink of my tea.
As moms friend was starting to get a bit exasperated, Mom said, “it could just be because Jodi is here right now, the song ‘you should be here’ will probably start playing some time soon”.
The song didn’t play, and I went home.
But something better than hearing Dexters song happened after that.
I dreamt about him.
I was riding him in an arena and saw a bunch of old friends from horse shows, then all of a sudden we were outside loping across a meadow. I was riding bareback (but not bridle-less), we stopped and I got off and took his bridle off.
We started to walk towards the water because he needed a drink, and as I ran my hand down his neck feeling his beautifully soft shiny hair coat, I looked at his face and wondered to myself in the dream why it felt like it had been so long since I had seen him.
And that thought woke me up.
Noooooo! I wanted to go back to sleep so bad, to find him again and spend more time.
There is never enough time to be with the ones you love.
Although I love when his spirit pops in to visit through other animals, I can tell you it doesn’t hold a candle to the real thing.
Man I miss that guy.
Thanks for the ride Dex, please come back soon.