01/05/2026
Last week, our Lil Dude left us. I don’t think I have enough space on here to adequately address how perfect he was (and if you knew him, you would agree), but I’m going to try.
Dude came to us from Tannis Bennett. One day at a horse show, she asked me ‘do you need a mini horse?’. I replied that I absolutely did not need a mini horse, but she was pretty insistent that I needed this one.
He looked after my kids more often than I did for years during morning chores. I’d find them climbing up on his back using whatever they could find as a stool (usually a bike, a bucket or a slide), decorating his mane with sparkles and flowers from the yard, or just hanging out with him in his stall talking. I always knew they were safe with him. As a frazzled new mom who was very often parenting solo, I was so thankful for his help.
Dude was an amazing equine ambassador. He taught my girls, and so many others, how to interact with and ride horses. He quietly let them pick out his feet a million times, point out his body parts, learn which brush is used first, and was always the first choice during free grooming time. He persuaded a few timid new riders to hop up on his back, giving them confidence to eventually ride other horses. Dude was the star of countless birthday parties, farm gatherings, pictures with Santa, and school show-and-tells. He also occasionally made his way into the farmhouse- climbing the porch stairs and walking right inside. He could work his way out of basically every gate we have on the farm (my neighbors can attest to this) and eventually we stopped trying to keep him in. We’d let him roam the yard like a dog while we were around and I’d often find him trotting through the grass to the apple tree or sleeping underneath the tall pines on a sunny day.
I think what makes this so hard is that I thought of him as a close friend, as opposed to a horse I originally took on for my kids. His stall was my go-to after a hard day. I’d curl up in a blanket and listen to him rhythmically munch his hay. He was my chore buddy in the mornings- always hanging out in the barn while I cleaned up and reminding me to take a few cookie breaks. He had life figured out, and he taught me so many things. It’s going to take some time to stop looking for him in his stall and our hearts are going to be broken for a while, but I’m so grateful for the little mini horse that looked after us more than we looked after him. 💜
