"Beamer" - also known as "Beamer Allen Brown", my best friend in the whole world, had to be euthanized on February 13, 2003.  He turned 13 on February 1 and went with us to the HITS show in Ocala, Florida.  He had been diagnosed in the fall with a tumor on  his liver.  Beamer's favorite place to be was at horse shows.  He had traveled to many in his lifetime, starting when he was a puppy.  He's probably been to more places than most people.  While in Ocala he enjoyed himself the first week but on the second week he started having seizures.  On my way to take him to the vet he had another seizure.  It was so severe despite medication and shots the only right thing to do was end his pain.  I had known all along this time was coming but it didn't make things any easier.  He lived a good life.  On his last birthday before we left for Florida our thoroughbred mare, Cathyweloveyou, gave birth to a black filly.  We named her "Bittersweet Memory" in Beamer's honor.

"Tasha" - referred to by all of my friends as "the dog from Hell", loved me more than anyone has ever in my whole life.  She was a tough little scrapper that never realized that she was no where near as big as she thought she was.  I took her on all of my road trips with the horses and Beamer and never worried about my safety.  She was diagnosed with a disease called "GME" in the fall of of 2001 and was given only 6 weeks to live.  As was the case always with Tasha she proved to be a lot tougher than anyone would believe.  She battled the disease for 10 months before it got the best of her.  Up until the day  she died she still went to the barn with me to feed the horses. One morning she made it as far as the landing, turned around and laid down.  She died that afternoon.  My biggest fear was that I would have to make the decision to put her to sleep, but Tasha as usual protected me and made the decision herself.

"Spike" was Keith's yellow lab who was his faithful companion.  When Keith and I first met Spike had lived a sheltered life and was the only dog.  Imagine the trama for Spike when Keith first brought him to the farm and he met my menagerie of dogs.  At first Spike was overwhelmed by the number of dogs I had but after time he learned to tolerate them all.  As long as he could be by Keith's side every minute of the day he was happy.  Spike started having breathing problems as he got older and the hot summers made if difficult for him to breath.  One summer during one of the heat waves it became more and more difficult for him.  He went outside to his favorite tree, laid down in the leaves and during the evening passed quietly away.

"Elvis" was our Home Depot Dog.  Keith and I were at the Buckland Mall Home Depot and the woman at the checkout saw the farm name on our check.  She mentioned that she lived in West Hartford and had a beagle.  She felt he would be much happier on a farm.  So Elvis came to live with us.  He and Beamer would hunt rabbits together.  Elvis would run along the top of the stone walls with his nose to the ground.  He often came home with his nose red and raw from sniffing the ground.  Many a night he a Beamer would be gone long past their curfew hunting for rabbits.  Beagles have a trait where no matter how hard you call them they don't hear you.  It's also known as the "ignore switch."  This proved to be Elvis' demise.  He trotted down the driveway and despite Keith's calls went out in the road and was hit by a car.  He died on Keith's lap on the way to the vet.  I'm sure he's with Beamer and they're out hunting rabbits together, noses to the ground, baying away.

"Dokken" was Midas' mom.  I owned Dokken's mom who was a Samoyed we called "Muk Luk".  Muk Luk gave birth to Dokken in a rotted tree trunk in the woods.  Dokken gave birth to Midas in the same place.  Midas and Dokken would spend their entire day together going from tree to tree looking up at the squirrels hoping one would miss a branch and come crashing their way.  It never happened but they never gave up hope.  As Dokken became older she lost her sight.  Midas would guide his Mom and would push her back to the house if she wandered to close to the road.  He was devoted to her to the end.  She is buried in the yard in Connecticut with two squirrel statues for her to look up at.

"Brady" was foaled on February 11, 2002.  He is out of "Cathyweloveyou", a thoroughbred mare.  He had all of the makings of being Blue's  backup stallion.  When he was a yearling he was at his first horse show and reared up and hit his head on a beam in the stall.  He was dead before he hit the ground.  It seems like your dreams can be dashed in a moment and you have no control.

"Heart & Soul", aka Sula, was a hunter mare I had purchased in October, 2003.  At the time I had been in the hospital for over two weeks for a problem with my heart.  That year I had been showing Whitney at the jumper shows and she could be a handful.  So I purchased Sula as a horse to ride in the interim until I was feeling better.  Since Sula was there to give my heart a break from Whitney I wanted her name to have "heart" in it.  Thus the name "Heart & Soul".  She was the most honest horse to the fences and never let me down.  I rode her for a few months until I was feeling good enough to ride Whitney again and  then in February, 2004 I showed her and Whitney at HITS Ocala.  Although Sula and I didn't pin she gave me great rides.  I showed her at other shows and  let other riders use her to build their confidence.  My friend, Sarah Byers, rode her in the Pomfret Hunter Pace in October, 2004 and I rode Whitney and we won 1st place.  Sarah also rode her at the Ayer Mountain Hunter Pace.  Our team dressed like the characters from "Alice in Wonderland".  Sula never let us down.  I sold her late that fall  to a teenage girl who wanted her for Medal classes.  They took Sula to a show in the winter and when they brought her home she had an irregular heartbeat.  They took her to Tufts and her condition improved.  The following day she laid down in the stall at Tufts and died.  She always gave her "Heart & Soul".

"Midas"  joined his mom, Dokken, and his grandmother, Muk Luk, on June 8, 2006.  He was never really happy here in Kentucky. Kentucky has a lot of thunderstorms and they bothered him.  To add insult to injury we took him to be body clipped and he came back looking like the "Cowardly Lion".  He was at his happiest when he was in the truck.  The only time he would relax was when we would let him in the truck to go for a ride or even just sleep in it while it was parked in the yard.  He wouldn't eat unlesss you sat with him.  I had to go into town one day and left him in the house and when I came home he had died on the couch.  I buried him in the garden under a birdbath I had purchased which had two squirrels on it.  I know he's happy now chasing squirrels with Dokken.

"Wallaby"  Wally died on September 29, 2006.  It took me a long time to write about him because I miss him so much.  It still brings tears to my eyes to think about him.  I don't think my heart has ever been as broken as it was the day he died.  It was a freak accident and if I could do anything to change my life I would go back to that day and do things different.  Wally came to me from Joanne at the Humane Society in Newington.  She asked me to take him for her and keep him.  The day I picked him up from the Humane Society he looked like a little convict.  He was so smart.  I took him to Obedience classes and then to Agility.  He loved agility classes.  And he was teacher's pet.  After he'd do whatever he had to do - whether it be jumps, seesaw, tunnels, etc. he would jump up the A frame, where the teacher was usually standing, and give her a big kiss with a look that asked "How'd I do?".  He could jump better than any horse I've ever owned.  I went to a jumper clinic with Greg Best and after the clinic Wally showed him his jumping style.  He would sit in the back seat of my truck, so tall and proud.  Sometimes now I can sense him there.   He loved working on the farm and would even sit on the John Deere waiting to help.  He was learning to be Sydney's backup as horse loading dog.  His only problem was he took his job seriously and often bit the horses too hard.  But he was smart enough and I know it wouldn't have been long that he could have been Sydney's #1 assistant.  He's buried in my garden with a yellow "Hocus Pocus" rose bush and a headstone that says "If tears could build a stairway and memories a lane, I'd walk right up to heaven and bring you home again."  I miss you Wallaby.

"Jibb" was my first rescue dog.  He had spent 7 months in a crate.  His toes were splayed from the wire mesh and he couldn't bend his joints since he'd been cooped up for so long.  I was told that "he loves to ride in the truck".  Getting him into the truck was a project.  He froze solid and I had to practically jam him through the door.  He threw up all the way home.  He was hard to housebreak since he'd spent so much time confined. He thought "if you've gotta go, you've gotta go".  He was terrorized of stairs.  He had trouble breathing.  I came close to giving up on him.  But he was the happiest dog you ever met.  If someone would come into the yard he'd charge towards them and then jump up and hug them.  He used to love to torment Tasha. He'd bite at her tail and then run away.  She'd take just so much and then she'd go after him.  He'd turn to high tail it to safety but sometimes ended up running into the wall or miss the exit of the door.  Then he'd scream bloody murder 'cause Tasha bit him.  But when she got sick he faithfully laid next to her until she died.  He loved carrots.  Our friend, Kerrie, got him hooked on them.  She'd come to visit and bring carrots for the horses and Jibb would insist they were for him too.  Then, when you least expected it, the undigested remains would be on your shoes.  When we first moved to Kentucky he did great.  The weather was great for him and his breathing problems disappeared.  One night I woke up and he was breathing heavy with blood pouring out of his mouth.  I thought that was the end.  We took him to the vet who dianosed the problem.  Jibb had such bad teeth they were infecting his system.  So she pulled fourteen teeth and he was fine.  In July, 2007 Jibb started having trouble breathing.  He became very lethargic.  We took him to the vet but he died during the night on July 5.  He is also buried in the garden where he can keep on eye on things for us.  

"Jack" was a palomino gelding that was old when he came to us from the Learning Clinic.  He had been in a therapeutic riding program there and needed a retirement home.  He was the perfect beginner horse to ride for anyone who came to the farm.  He taught Sierra how to ride.  He was the first horse Amanda rode in a horse show by herself.  Although he showed his age he still knew his stuff.  Amanda rode him in Walk-Trot Trail class at the Haddam Neck Fair and won first place.  We free leased him to a woman who wanted him for her handicapped son.  His reward for that was to come home skin and bones.  Jack never regained the weight he had lost.  The move to Kentucky was good for him.  He had warm sun and plenty of green grass.  He and Ribel, our other geriatric horse who is blind, took care of each other and were good company.  The winter's here are mild and he wintered well.  On May 18, 2007 after I had fed the horses I went to Jack and Ribel's pasture and found Jack with feed coming out of his nose.  Jack had "choke" which is a condition where the food gets caught in the horse's throat and they are unable to dislodge it.  We tried tubing him with no success.  The more we tried to help him the weaker he got.  So I had to make the decision to end his pain.  He laid down quietly and died with his head on my lap.  He's loping in green pastures now enjoying the warm sun.