05/12/2024
A couple weeks ago we said goodbye to my sweet Bubba.
I first met Bubba as a therapeutic riding horse. I was in undergrad and thought I had things figured out. Man did he teach me I was wrong.
I first learned to ride on Bubba. And the first lesson he taught me was to hold on, because he didn’t give two sh*ts if I had the reins because he was running straight to his mom and he was going there whether I was coming or not.
The second lesson he taught me was to mean it. If I didn’t mean it, he wasn’t doing it. He didn’t care what I said, if I didn’t say it with my chest, he was going to plow right through me.
The third lesson he taught me was patience. Because one day, I got to be his mom. He picked me. Even when he didn’t live with me, he looked at me like I was the one he wanted. I had to earn it, but he loved me differently than before.
The day he died, I could tell something was off. Bub was easy to read when he was mad, but he hid his pain until it was too much. He looked at me with saucer plate eyes and I knew we needed the vet. She told me that she couldn’t believe how bad things were just from looking at him. But it was clear.
We said goodbye to him in our pasture. I told him I loved him and I said sorry that I couldn’t fix it. I think he knew.
Bubba made it through chronic Lyme disease, he helped countless people through therapy, he changed my life entirely. He was sassy, and rude. Grumpy, and sweet. He was unlike any animal I’ve ever met.
And he lived a really good life.