Farewell, Barbaro
From your days at the Fair Hills Training Center, to the
entry of your spirit, this morning, into the fair hills of
eternity, Barbaro, you were a reminder, to all of us who
love horses, of why we do, and why we will keep on loving
them in spite of the inevitable heartbreak that love will
bring.
We, as humans, do not, and cannot, understand the mystery
of the horse; how even in the confines of a stall they carry
within them all the vast open spaces of the earth; how,
although we may saddle them in arrogance, without their
strength and swiftness, we, as a species, may not have
survived; and how to mount a horse is to embark on a
journey of mastering not the horse, but oneself, and then
the world.
And when we lost you, Barbaro, who were the symbol of
courage, endurance, patience, and a desire to overcome, we
lost a being who, for a short time, became a bridge between
those of us who cannot imagine a world without horses and
those who, before you, had known nothing of them.
I will never forget you, Barbaro, as I will never forget
the images I have seen of the great Ruffian, and Go for
Wand, and Landaluce, and Pine Island, who were all taken
from us before their time. And I hope, if there are
stallion and broodmare bands in heaven, that you have them
all in yours.
