by Brenda Beaudette
I had just gotten back from Desert Storm and my life was a mess. I was in culture shock, going from a remote area in the desert to a major city. To further complicate matters, I came home to find that my best friend and husband of 7 years had become lovers and she was happily living in my house. I worked two jobs to keep busy and to finance starting over from scratch. One day, my friend Kelli invited me to go with her to a boarding stable where she was taking riding lessons. I was excited to go, I was involved in a riding group when I was a teenager and like a lot of little girls, LOVED horses. I begged my parents to buy me a horse, and every Christmas and birthday was disappointed with stuffed horses, statues, books. I got bored watching Kelli try to post a trot and started wandering around and ended up where the new 3 year old Arabian geldings were being housed. A beautiful dark bay trotted up and nickered softly. I patted his neck and found that he liked to be scratched behind his ears. He leaned into me with his eyes closed like he was in pure heaven. I fell in love with the warm shininess of his brown eyes. At dinner, I told Kelli that I wanted a horse and she was excited for me, offering to loan me the money. I bought Spalding the next day and began taking lessons with his trainer. One day, I had turned him into the arena and he was running around in full Arabian flare-tail high and nostrils flared, he ripped around the arena with his black shiny mane flying in the breeze. A stable hand stopped to watch. "He's a beauty" he said in awe, "he runs with the spirit of the wind." I considered changing his name to Spirit, but he knew his name. Spaldy and I covered hundred of miles in mountains and meadow, climbing hills and crossing streams. He bravely took care of me and I him. I got my smile back, a bounce in my step. My desk at work was covered in pictures of Spaldy, every angle. I met a guy named Mark who began leasing a horse and we rode the countryside every weekend, talking about everything from serious to trivial. One day I was feeling blue at work and didn't know why. I was getting ready to go to lunch when I got a phone call. "If you want to see Spalding alive you better be here in an hour." It was raining but I don't remember the drive. Spalding was standing there trembling and covered in sweat. The vet told me that his stomach had completely ruptured and that he was slowly dying from the stomach contents entering his bloodstream and that there was nothing he could do. He was on heavy pain medication because the vet knew I wanted to see him, but it would be wearing off soon. I held Spalding tight and scratched him behind the ears. Crying, I thanked him for always safely taking care of me and telling him that I would miss him and never forget him. I noticed that he was pawing the ground, like the pain was coming back. I told Spalding that he was going to GOD and that he would be at the Rainbow Bridge and I would join him someday. I asked him to send me a rainbow someday to let me know he was OK. I couldn't see him die, so my last memory is of Spalding being let away by the vet, his head down. His didn't have their usual sparkle. I sat in his stall until Mark showed up and he gave me a big hug. He didn't say anything, just let me drench his shirt with tears. When we walked out of the barn there was a huge rainbow stretched across the sky. I told Mark what I asked Spalding and we both had another good cry.
Mark and I are married now and I have three good horses. Everytime I see a rainbow I think of Spalding and all the other loyal animals anxiously awaiting their loving owners at the Rainbow Bridge.