One of God’s Creatures, Great and Tall
By Brenda Black ©2017
Published in Were You Born in a Barn 2nd Edition October 2015
He was striking the first time I saw him — solid and muscular. Not entirely attractive, but commanding. With speed and agility he sprinted as though he were at least a couple hundred pounds trimmer. His jug head, high hip bones and withers and slightly cow-hocked hind legs couldn’t be ignored, but sacrificing good looks was worth it. We knew he was the kind of horse with enough heart to work and play his hardest the rest of his life.
“Vandy Leo Reed” it read on his Certificate of Registration. He was born a sorrel and white Tobiano and listed with The Pinto Horse Association. The colorful colt entered the world on April 25, 1979. He was far more valuable than the outdated document that failed to reflect the last two ownership transfers. We acquired him about 20 years ago after test-driving him out of a calf-roping chute and watching him track cattle perfectly. He was calm, gentle, versatile – just what we needed for our young family.
In the course of two decades, we had done about everything imaginable with that horse. Our two sons and dozens of other children learned to ride atop Leo. He stood 15 hands (5 feet at the withers) and dwarfed toddlersand teens alike who straddled his wide back. We piled two or three, and at one Bible camp, six kids on him at a time. Round and round he would patiently go, a gentle giant, entrusted with small cargo.
He ran the barrels, wove through the poles, and bounced beginner riders in walk-trot classes. Leo’s big bones and coarse gait made it hard to ride beautifully, but his mass made him a winner at pulling cattle and covering the ground in arena or open terrain. On the heading or heeling end, our red and white freight train managed cantankerous bovine opponents with ease. In any season, at any time of day, we could pull Leo from the pasture and put him to work. He was solidly broke and never needed training!
At 27 years of age, he still competed though he moved a little slower and stiffer. Arthritis made his inflated ankles and knees pop, but his independent spirit kept him forever youthful, especially in the presence of a feed bucket. The last time any of us rode Leo, was in 2006. He earned his well-deserved retirement; it was time to let him rest.
Lost and long teeth made it harder for him to maintain condition. We started feeding him a mash rather than pellets and gave him extra attention in extreme heat and cold. Eventually, it didn’t seem to make any difference. Old Leo deteriorated quickly. His pronounced hips and withers exposed the hard, cold truth. He probably wouldn’t see another winter.
At the first sign of below-freezing temperatures, I blanketed my big ol’ boy and rubbed his bony side whereonce fleshy, rippling muscle and hide supported saddle and rider. I kissed him on his ruddy red jaw and silently hoped he wouldn’t have to suffer through snow and ice.
Two nights later, Leo laid down and died. I wept as if he were human. That big, burly pinto provided enormous service to us, nearly as long as I had been married. He was in more pictures than most of our extended family and carried our children to countless ventures and victories. I think God understands such sorrow; he uses the majestic and the minuscule to communicate wisdom and wonder and love.
“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?” (Job 12:7-12).
We learned much from Leo, God’s noble creature, especially how to be trustworthy, live sacrificially and leave behind great memories. Vandy Leo Reed died at nearly 29 years of age (that’s 87 for you and me). I thank God that he fashioned such a beautiful creature as the horse and made a special, red and white painted one for us.
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