bye, old friend

[Kali]

Moonwalker
October 29, 1983 (mine since Sept. 4 1992) - July 31, 2011

[abq e streeter]

1. Rest in blissful peace, Moonwalker

[LaurenG]

2. I'm so sorry for your loss Kali

:hug:

[redwitch]

3. So sorry Kali

Such a beauty! RIP Moonwalker.

[Arugula Latte]

4. Awww. So sorry.

:(

Pretty horsie. I love that flaxen mane color.

[WolverineDG]

5. I'm so sorry, Kali

:(

:hug:

dg

[Redstone]

6. Nice horsie - my condolences for your loss. Really, seriously...

a horse who hung out with a parrot? Does a horse get any more special than that?

I grieve with you.

Redstone

[RSillsbee]

7. My most heart felt condolences NT

[GoCubsGo]

8. I'm so sorry.

He was a handsome boy, for sure. I imagine it's even rougher to lose a horse-friend than it is a dog-friend or a cat-friend, since .they are here so much longer. Was he as sweet as he looked?

[Call Me Wesley]

9. Safe passage, Moonwalker.

May you be free from suffering. Peace and comfort to you and yours, Kali. :hug:

[livetohike]

10. I'm so sorry Kali

:hug: Rest in peace Moonwalker....and Kali, may he visit you in your dreams and may all the good memories you have stay in your heart forever.

[MiddleFingerMom]

11. I'm sorry for your loss, Kali.

.
.
.
A very pretty horse, indeed!
.
.
.
The "Hangin' out with Watson" photos are GREAT. In the last one, they both look
like Watson is "farting in your general direction!!!"
.
.
.
Get in tcuch if you want to talk or vent or have a distraction for awhile.
.
.
.
RIP, Moonwalker.
.
.
.

[auntAgonist]

12. I'm so sorry. Moonwalker was gorgeous.

:hug:

[Worried senior]

13. So Sorry

He was a beautiful horse and what a great name. So cute friends with the parrot (I think), beautiful bird.

[Dappleganger]

14. What a beauty, sorry for your loss.

[Lady President]

15. RIP, pretty baby

You can tell that Moonwalker had a happy life with lot of furry and feathered friends.

RIP

[rurallib]

16. Bet you have some great memories.

My deepest condolences.

[Kali]

17. thanks everybody

I'm sad, but it wasn't entirely unexpected - he has been retired for 5 or 6 years and wasn't doing much for several before that (he was my German friend's mount when she visited - she is going to be devastated)

It is really freaking hot today - I have some more stories but I'm going to go have a little siesta first. See you after it cools off a little this evening.

[snagglepuss]

38. I'm so sorry for your loss:(

[bluedigger]

18. Sad to hear that, Kali.

You two had a lot of good years together.

[csziggy]

19. Kali, I am so sorry to hear of your loss

Moonwalker looks as though he was a wise old fellow. I'm glad he was loved up to the very end.

[MrsBrady]

20. so sorry...

:hug:

[kimi]

21. Aw, I'm so sorry

Beautiful guy!! And that is a venerable age for a horse. The pics are lovely, really bring out his personality.

Even when you expect it, losses hurt. Peace to you and your family and the bird, too. :hug:

[lunatica]

22. I bet the parrot will miss moonwalker too

I'm sorry for your loss. All of you.

[Forkboy]

23. Sorry, Kali.

:(

[applegrove]

24. What a pretty Palimino. I love them.

[bigwillq]

25. I am sorry for your loss.

:hug:

[stuntcat]

26. Peace for Moonwalker..

oh such beautiful pictures, beautiful eyes.

:hug:

[bluesbassman]

27. Sorry kali.

I'm sure Moowalker was like a member of the family. Safe passage. :hug:

[rug]

28. "They see through us at a glance."

There are unknown worlds of knowledge in brutes; and whenever you mark a horse, or a dog, with a peculiarly mild, calm, deep-seated eye, be sure he is an Aristotle or a Kant, tranquilly speculating upon the mysteries in man. No philosophers so thoroughly comprehend us as dogs and horses. They see through us at a glance. And after all, what is a horse but a species of four-footed dumb man, in a leathern overall, who happens to live upon oats, and toils for his masters, half-requited or abused, like the biped hewers of wood and drawers of water? But there is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities. As for those majestic, magisterial truck-horses of the docks, I would as soon think of striking a judge on the bench, as to lay violent hand upon their holy hides.

~Herman Melville, Redburn. His First Voyage, 1849

[Pool Hall Ace]

29. RIP Moonwalker

:cry:

safe passage ol' boy

[emilyg]

30. I am very sorry.

[MilesColtrane]

31. Awww...

:cry:

[GreenPartyVoter]

32. I'm so very sorry. :^(

[Kali]

33. He would do ANYTHING you asked him to

he was raised on a ranch down the river (San Pedro) near Mammoth/San Manuel. The old guy that originally had him was a character - a stereotypical looking depression-era cowboy, tall and skinny, and of course bowlegged, with bushy eyebrows. There was an off-color story about him after his wife left him for a Mexican guy. He told everybody he was going to wire a tortilla to the grill of his truck and drive north until people started asking what it was and that would be where he settled.

Oh and when I met him he was driving a bright yellow Karmann Ghia. A cousin worked for him and had a lot of funny stories about the guy. That is how I came to acquire Moonwalker. This cousin was leasing a pasture from us and helping with the ranch. I had once again suckered myself into buying another crazy paint horse - a flashy mare that had some kind of mental problem - she would go for weeks at a time just fine then all of the sudden flip out over nothing. After she dumped me off a couple of times and turned out to be useless for working livestock this cousin, who is a bit of a horse trader in the old fashioned sense (he would never lie but he would also "trust" you to figure out what might be wrong with an animal) offered to trade Moonwalker for her. I already knew him as he was the horse the cousin let other people borrow - he was gentle and easy to handle, basically a kid horse but with a lot more good years on him that the typical old kid horse. He had a couple of flaws. He paddled his front feet out when he walked. You couldn't feel it riding him but it looked wierd. That was why the cousin wasn't able to sell him to one of his own sisters. They rode in public and didn't want to be seen on a horse that walked funny. He may have had a touch of navicular disease or some nerve damage becasue he also would kind of dance from foot to foot on the front when he was standing. He never showed pain - he could stand on one side fine for shoeing the opposite side or still on both for his hind feet. Just a quirk. But that is why this cousin renamed him Moonwalker. His registered name was Bellota Batik (WTF?)

About the only thing that ever freaked him out was sand above his pasterns. He would get into a panic and try to "escape" if he ever sank down that far. I imagined he had experience with real quicksand having been ridden and worked down on the river. I have heard of horses sinking to the shoulders in places down there.

He had a few old scars that looked like they were pretty serious injuries too - on his left thigh were four matching scars about 8 inches long and two inches apart. I called them his lion scars - like a big claw had ripped his thigh. I bet it was some kind of trailer accident, though. Who knows? - he WAS kind of prone to getting ripped up even though he never got into any panic when you were riding him. In the last few years he got a foot hung up in some wire and I thought that might be the end of him but he healed up fine. Then two summers ago he came in one day with this huge hole in his neck - no idea what happened but it was a gross mess. After I got it cleaned up and fly-proofed he healed up fine - even grew hair over it all. last year's injury was big tear over his other ass cheek. Just skin, but a big old flap of it. may have caught it on a nail. That healed up fine too. I never saw any of his injuries when they happened, he would just be standing around at the end of the day waiting to be fed with a big chunk of his meat exposed.

I have a good friend from Germany who I met through her academic work in the San Pedro River watershed. She was doing her Masters in Geography, and at that time I was very active with the water issues everybody was fighting about down here. A group of people had gone to a ranch tour in Sonora and I got to talking to her about our backgrounds. Turns out she had horses when she was younger so I invited her out to ride. Put her on Moonwalker and we have been friends and traveling companions for over 15 years now. Oddly she just emailed this weekend that she had had her tickets for coming over in September. I had to write back that she had the good news and I had some bad. She and I and Moonwalker and Uno did some off-ranch rides and lots of riding here. She and Moonwalker "helped" with several round-ups and cattle moves. We even did an overnight camping with the horses once. We had started the first leg of riding the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area - going round trip from Palominas to the Mexican Border and back one day. Both of us had some health problems since then and we haven't made it to try the next leg. If we ever do, it will be on two different horses now.

[Dystopian]

36. Kali...

I'm so very sorry...
Thank you for sharing the beautiful pictures and history...

Rest in peace, Moonwalker...You were loved.


Kali...peace and love to you~

[pacalo]

34. I'm so sorry, Kali.

Moonwalker was a handsome horse. He looked sweet, too, looking at the pictures with your parrot (he looks like a character!). Going on 28 years old, with the SAME birthday as mine -- October 29.

Our pets are really a part of the family & it's heartbreaking when we lose them. I'm sure he had a good life with you.

:hug:

[Demoiselle]

35. What a beautiful horse. Sweet dreams, Moonwalker..

[Bertha Venation]

37. Oh, no, Kali

:cry: I am so sorry.

[one_voice]

39. I'm sorry for your loss Kali...

Moonwalker was gorgeous! :hug:

[Odin2005]

40. I'm so sorry!

:(

[Bake]

41. So sorry, Kali! What a beautiful horse!

:hug:

Bake

[sinkingfeeling]

42. RIP, Moonwalker. It must be awful to lose an animal that's been with you so long.