In Dec of 2000 my husband rolled up in the driveway in the beat up truck and trailer. Kayce (then 12) was hopping up and down with excitement. Her horse was here! We opened the door and there he was a scared, skinny, shaggy, brown horse with a big white circle on his forehead. He was only 3 months old and Kayce threw her arms around him and said "Oh he is WONDERFUL!" My husband, knowing alot about horses, told us to stand back as he unloaded him incase he jumped and kicked as young horses were prone to do. But not this one, he calmly walked out straight to Kayce. A love affair was born. She decided to call him King's Hope. Named for his father and mother. He was part belgian, morgan,perchon. Which means when he grew up he was going to be very big. Kayce was out there everyday, brushing him, hugging him telling him her secrets. She taught him to lead,come to her when called and of course hunt for treats in her pockets. Usually gummy treats called peach fuzzies. Time flew by fast. When King was 1 she started training him for shows. At one time she tied yellow milk cartons across his back and a rain slicker to his tail to teach him not to shy from strange things. My husband shook his head with disbelief. King tolerated it and always did as Kayce asked. He loved and trusted her.Kayce started taking King to shows when he was 2. He won alot of ribbons and trophys. He was so calm the judges couldn't believe he was 2, they thought he was older. King and Kayce won the Pa State 4H Show. My fondest memories of them was once looking out into the field to see King laying down and Kayce Laying agaist him both napping in the sun. At the district horse show after it had rained, Kayce and King both standing in the show ring being judged and pawing in the mud puddle. Hissing at both of them to stop that! Being at the county fair and dozens of little girls in the stall climbing all over him and braiding his hair and him sighing with the patients of a saint. Walking THROUGH the trees in the field, not around them. Putting his head into the truck window looking for treats. Trying to come INTO the kitchen door to follow Kayce. King was always there for Kayce, every award she ever won, she showed King. Every heartbreak, she cried with King. Every pic she painted had King in it. Her art teacher told her she had to paint ONE picture without King or she wouldn't pass her. So Kayce painted a black and white Picture of an art room. And among all the misc things in the room, all black and white, was an easl with a color picture painted on it. The picture was a landscape, and in the very corner of this tiny picture was...King. Well I guess the teacher didn't see him or maybe she did and justed laughed but she passed Kayce anyways. This year Kayce is a senior in high school, 17 years old. She applied and was excepted to Delaware Equestrian college. It was her last year in 4H and she was looking forward to the first horse show in may. This year when she was going to enter King in the county fair, she was going to run for fair queen. This was going to be her year. For christmas she got a new truck and horse trailer, all new tack and show cloths. Kayce was finally blossoming with Kings help. Then in the early hours of Jan 27, a bear scared the horses out of our field and into the field across the road. Thinking it safe they were trying to get back home, when a snow plow struck and killed King. Kayce was there within moments. King was suffering terribly but calmed when he heard her voice. I was calling the vet and my son and Kayce grabbed the other 2 horses and took them to the barn. King was trying desperatly to get up and follow Kayce as he had always done. But his hip and leg were broken. Kayce rushed to his side again. Laying on him, holding him, calming him and loving him until he took his last breath. The memory of that morning is still fresh in our minds and hard to get pass. Kayce's life was changed in one moment. It changed the day King walked off of that trailer into her life, and it changed the moment he walked across the rainbow bridge out of her life. But I will always remember a blonde head laying next to a brown horse telling secrets and giggling under the stars. The light in her blue eyes the first day she got King to canter. And the tears on her cheeks as she said goodbye to her King