jcpminiaturehorses
Well-Known Member
I'll try to keep this as short as possible. I haven't been on the forum for quite a while because on Dec. 21 my dad was diagnosed with cancer. He is the reason I raise miniature horses. My family has raised miniature horses for 20 years. On April 4 dad celebrated his 60th birthday, it was a great day (although he had gone down hill alot), that was Wednesday. When I arrived at my parents house on Friday morning the hospice nurse said that he probably would not acknowledge that I was there. Huge change for a very short amount of time. Dad passed away Saturday night April 7. We buried dad on Wednesday and we had horses consigned for the Lolli's exotic sale in Macon, Missouri on that Saturday. I went ahead and went through with it as this was something I just had to do. Two of the four horses were my parents.
They sell miniature donkeys before the miniature horse sale and they had about 200 of them. For years I had always told dad that I was going to have a miniature donkey one day and he would laugh and make fun of me saying that my neighbors would just love me. Then he would laugh and say they was kind of cute. This went on for a long time. My husband came walking back to the horses where I was cleaning them up for the sale because they would sell in a couple of hours and handed me a set of registration papers, he had bought me a little 5 year old jenny named Nelly. We went and found her in the barn and then I was looking at the papers and I started crying. Without knowing he had purchased a donkey that had the same birthday as my dad. Of 200 donkeys he could have bought that morning what was the odds. Nelly has been a big comfort to me through all of this.
When the list was posted for the horses to be sold I noticed that my yearling filly started the miniature horse sale. When I walked her into the sale ring, the seats were full of people. Then Mary Beth (the one who runs the minature horse sale) said "we're getting ready to start the miniature horse sale but I want to take a second", she the began talking about dad and about him passing away and that we had just buried him three days before and that dad had raised miniatures for 20 years. They then had a moment of silence whereas the entire sale ring area fell silent. In the middle of the sale ring I stood with my yearling filly. Everyone took off their hats and there wasn't a peep. It was very honoring to dad's memory. We were told by another member of the Lolli family that the only other time they had ever had a moment of silence in the sale ring was when their own father passed away.
I caught myself the other night while on mare stare when I picked up the phone and started to call over to mom and dads and talk to dad about my mare. My mom has several mares still to foal and it is hard because dad was always in the barn. He purchased a black and white stallion last April and he never got to see a baby out of him.
The miniature horse world has lost a great man who took pride in every foal that was born. I not only lost my father, but I lost a part of myself. :no:
They sell miniature donkeys before the miniature horse sale and they had about 200 of them. For years I had always told dad that I was going to have a miniature donkey one day and he would laugh and make fun of me saying that my neighbors would just love me. Then he would laugh and say they was kind of cute. This went on for a long time. My husband came walking back to the horses where I was cleaning them up for the sale because they would sell in a couple of hours and handed me a set of registration papers, he had bought me a little 5 year old jenny named Nelly. We went and found her in the barn and then I was looking at the papers and I started crying. Without knowing he had purchased a donkey that had the same birthday as my dad. Of 200 donkeys he could have bought that morning what was the odds. Nelly has been a big comfort to me through all of this.
When the list was posted for the horses to be sold I noticed that my yearling filly started the miniature horse sale. When I walked her into the sale ring, the seats were full of people. Then Mary Beth (the one who runs the minature horse sale) said "we're getting ready to start the miniature horse sale but I want to take a second", she the began talking about dad and about him passing away and that we had just buried him three days before and that dad had raised miniatures for 20 years. They then had a moment of silence whereas the entire sale ring area fell silent. In the middle of the sale ring I stood with my yearling filly. Everyone took off their hats and there wasn't a peep. It was very honoring to dad's memory. We were told by another member of the Lolli family that the only other time they had ever had a moment of silence in the sale ring was when their own father passed away.
I caught myself the other night while on mare stare when I picked up the phone and started to call over to mom and dads and talk to dad about my mare. My mom has several mares still to foal and it is hard because dad was always in the barn. He purchased a black and white stallion last April and he never got to see a baby out of him.
The miniature horse world has lost a great man who took pride in every foal that was born. I not only lost my father, but I lost a part of myself. :no:
