R.I.P. Buster<3

Today, my mom, our friends, and I lost an amazing horse.  His name was Buster  and he was the kindest, gentlest, most lovable horse; he was truly everybody’s best friend.  He loved everybody and worked his way into people’s hearts.  He was a Mustang off of a Navajo reservation and was sold to one of the men where I board.  He had me break him when he was 2 and I was 9.  However, he refused to trust his owner or let him handle him because he would lasso him in his stall, scaring him to death for 30 minutes before he was tired enough to catch.  Soon after, my mom and I bought him and turned him into a dressage horse where he thrived!  He was a favorite at the shows.  Hilda Gurney even personally came to us after our class and complimented us on how beautiful and kind he is.  But his show career ended when he was 5 when he was diagnosed with arthritis in both hind hocks.  We then leased and eventually sold him to our dear friends who boarded him at the same barn.  His new owner was a retired body builder who treated him as he was: a friend.  He loved him and cared for him to the best of his abilities.  His wife, an exercise rider at the local racetracks, would practice galloping on him.  He did everything, from ponying to dressage to being the object of planking haha!  He’s taught countless people how to ride.  He certainly never acted his age; he was an old soul. He was everybody’s horse, and everybody who knows him is certainly missing him.  The one time he decided to spook took his life.  His owners took him and their other horse on trail towards the hills as opposed to toward the river (the opposite way).  The trail went across the entrance to a construction site, where they completely covered the entrance with metal grating, leaving a tiny path to go around.  To get back on the trail, you need to go up a red painted curb between a guard rail and the grating.  He spooked going up the curb, reared up, and severed his flexor tendon on the guard rail.  The decision was made to put him down after he had entered surgery and the surgeon concluded the injury to be irreparable.  He was far too young to leave us, as he was only 9, but he died peacefully in everybody’s arms.  He’s one to be missed, and one never to be forgotten.  I’ll always miss you, Munchkin<3