When Condolences Are Not Enough

Too often it is impossible to say the right things, especially to kids that all too often are caught up in a world that they cannot understand. Too often I simply hold my tongue and do not say the right thing to a child even when the situation screams out for me to do so.

For example, when a child excitedly tells me that they have a horse that cost $10,000.00 I should take the time to explain that the amount of money that one pays for a horse bears no relation to its value and that all horses, like all people, are equal in value. I should take the time to point out that that $10,000.00, if donated to a good horse rescue organization could have improved the lives of scores of horses. I should take the time to explain that much of the suffering that horses have experienced through out history resulted from people trying to measure horses with measuring sticks made of gold.

I should take the time to explain that Holland cost me exactly $0.00 and that I would not consider, for even a moment, an offer of $10,000.00 to buy him.

A horse does not demonstrate its value at a race track, in the show ring, or in the auction pit. A horse demonstrates its value when it chooses to genuinely care about a person.

Years ago I explained that my breeding goals were to produce horses that understood how you feel when your mother dies. To all of those in the established horse world that cannot understand what that means, I offer my sincerest condolences.