A Life Lesson from Bonnie Blue 

The Dali Lama has often pointed out that animals are sentinel beings like humans but lack the higher cognitive powers. Certainly this is true. Animals do not write essays or poems. They don’t produce TV documentaries or Holy scripts. But, humans are mammals and we do share much of the same DNA and evolutionary history as other mammals. Especially other social mammals like dogs, cats, goats, horses and the like. By studying these creatures I often find patterns reviled that are common in both animals and humans but may be masked in humans by our higher neo cortex with its language, logic and reason.

When we adopted Bonnie Blue last year. She was called “Bones” by the rescue folks but we renamed her “Bonnie Blue.”  The unfortunate creature had nearly starved to death due to neglect.  Her recovery over the past months has been nearly miraculous. Her body and spirit recovered in stages. Big changes started to occur at about three month. Her body was stronger and she gained confidence that her situation was stable with the routine of daily farm life and lots of attention. She is an Arabian, a bred that is considered bright, spirited and known to form strong bonds with their humans. And Bonnie Blue started to demonstrate all of these characteristics. In the three to six month period after she came to live with us life was good and stable and she continued to grow in body and spirit.

We decided to adopt a second horse so she would have a friend or “pasture pal.” Horses are social animals and it is essential for them to be a member of a herd.  According to most sources, this is part of the fabric of being a horse driven in part by the psychology of prey animals. The herd is one of the defenses these creatures have against attack by predators.  In order to accept the new horse a stall which had a collection of junk, including a canoe, needed to be cleaned out. So I went out to the stall (which was adjacent to Bonnie Blue’s stall) and started removing the old junk. At first Bonnie was very curious. She followed me every step and was generally a total nuisance. But, then as the process continued and items were removed from the immediate area, she became very agitated. I stopped and tried to console her with stroking and soft words, but she would have no part of it. And when I removed her canoe, she got downright upset. She would run out of the stall area make a sharp turn, run back slamming down her hooves, skidding to a stop. Then buck, spin, kick and race away only to repeat the process.  It was like she was saying,” WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? You are taking my stuff including my canoe. Please STOP!”  She was exceedingly distressed that I was disrupting everything and it was threatening her basic security. I continued to try to console her with little success. However, when the new horse arrived, a couple of hours later and took up residence in the cleared stall, all was forgiven and life was even better than it was when she had her own canoe.

How often have we reacted from our mammalian brain (horse brain) when change, we did not control or understand, occurred to us. I was very upset when I got drafted into military service during the 1970’s. My life was not in my control, far from it. But I survived, had some great learning experiences and a G.I. Bill that allowed the continuance of my education that I could not have afforded otherwise. Just like Bonnie Blue, I kicked, bucked and vented my frustration and then embraced my fate, tried to make the best of the situation and finally reaped the benefits of the change I could not control. Things do not always work out as well as they did in these two cases. Change can bring disaster, but that is life.

My observation is that social mammals that are comfortable fear change that could destroy the good situation they enjoy. Not only is this logical, it is part of the DNA that has helped us to survive, horse and human alike. The question is:  can we humans use our logic, reason and compassion in addition to our emotions to help us work through changes to make the best of the situation for ourselves, our social group and the world?

Lessen to the horse in your head but don’t let it be the only voice. I hope we will use all of our capabilities to grow in wisdom and deal with the changes in our lives that are inevitable?

Today was a sad day for all of us here at the farm.
Late yesterday afternoon Augustus was standing in the pasture near the road and something happened to him. He bolted and after a few steps went down. He stayed down with out trying to get up for about a half an hour. When he did try, he was too weak to rise. His strength failed quickly. We called Dr. Rogers and he suggested keeping him warm and comfortable. By 9:00 PM he could no longer get up off of his side. I stayed with him until 3:30 AM and he was generally quite with only an occasional thrashing of the legs and moving of his head. At 6:00 AM I called Dr. Rogers and asked him to come to the farm. He arrived before 8:30 AM and checked Gus. We all agreed to proceed with euthanasia to prevent any additional suffering. He passed quietly with his head in my arms and Bonnie Blue standing over us. We buried him on the hill top where some of our other pets have been buried over the years and where my ashes will join them some day.

He was only with us for a short while but we loved and learned from him. May his spirit find peace. Bonnie Blue and the rest of us morn his passing.

Bonnie Blue and Augustus were visited by Dr. Lowell Rogers, their veterinarian, on March 7th for their spring  checkups and immunizations. It was a good visit and started with Dr. Rogers complimenting Bonnie Blue on how well she looked. He said he could hardly believe she was the same horse he had seen last summer. We all agree, with her near perfect body weight of near 850 pounds, a shinny coat and a sassy Arabian attitude, she hardly resembles the old "Bones" horse that came to live with us seven months ago. So many blessings have come to all of us, we are very grateful.


Dr. Rogers checked Gus and found an older horse with some of the aliments common to older animals. His teeth were not too bad but were been helped by a good filling (floating). Gus has some knots and humps which may be cancerous and we will be watched these over the coming months. His heart is not the strongest and his circulation to his head is not symmetrical. However, none of these are live threatening at this time and we will remain focused on building his weight and strength. His Body Condition Score was assessed as a 3. Perhaps if he can get to a 5 like Bonnie Blue his other issues may improve also. His weight is estimated at 1040 pounds and he still need at least another hundred pounds.

Gus is a very different horse than Bonnie Blue. Gus is very low key. He is a large framed horse and he moves slowly and deliberately. He seems to be very happy being an older, slower, cooler, bigger and submissive horse. Though different, we love the big old boy already.

Bonnie Blue continues to be dominate but generally less aggressive with each passing week. However, she still has to show her butt occasionally and give him a hard time with a bite or a kick. I know this is a part of normal horse behavior, but I have not learned to fully accept it yet.

The nice reporter, Ms. Emily Ham, from the Hattiesburg American Newspaper published a "What ever happened to?" article on Sunday February 24,2013 entitled "Bones to Bonnie Blue: A Horse's Tale"
The article featured photos of Bonnie Blue from June 2012 and February 2013 and tells the story of her transformation back to health. This was a good story and we are thankful for Ms. Ham taking time to research and write it. Hopefully, it will help others move to adopt rescue animals and understand that these animals can recover and be as wonderful as any other.

This post is a lot of bits and pieces of information that we wanted to capture. The only thread of continuity running through this collage seems to be "love". Love for these wonderful animal that add so much to our lives. Yes, they can be a pain in the butt. Yes, they require time, attention and resources. Yes they are horses and can show their negative horse butts and bite and kick and generally act a fool. But, then whats new. Don't all living things that add to our lives do the same type of things? I look at these creatures and see so many similarities with humans. I see how they seek social status, how they express their affection, how they seek security and I think, wow, how similar we are. We can learn a lot from one another. All we have to do is look and pay attention.

Blessings to all.