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Inch is a
Thoroughbred mare, ex-race horse, broodmare and jumper. Inch was sent to me by Debbie and
Steve Peden. She has training for miles, but is a little excitable and has ringbone in her
left fore foot. This is a horse with a great pedigree who would love to be a mother again,
but I don't breed horses. Inch is mostly just a ride for me. At a walk or (very long
strided) trot, she's great. She'll be a good step up for more advanced riders.
Inch holds a special
place in my heart because of her long friendship with Bobby Sox. Although she's 17 hands and
he was barely 14 hands she was Bobby's "woman" - his status symbol or trophy wife if you
will.
She tolerated his napoleonic ways, holding Joey as a proper sized
boyfriend in the background. In the last year of Bobby's life, Inch gently switched to being
his protector. As his eyesight failed, he would get separated from her in the herd and stand
calling for her. She would carefully move to a location where he could catch her scent and
find his way to her side granting him reassurance and saving his face in the process. When
Bobby Sox died, Inch was inconsolable, and showed great rage toward me until the night I broke down
in her stall pleading for her to understand that I had to help him on his way. Amazingly
enough, it seems she thought I didn't care. She walked carefully to me, dropped her head in
my chest for the first time in months, and stood quietly in my arms letting me cry. I had
never believed that animals understood the concept of death, but her behavior was all too typical
of a friend or family member in the same situation. She also took many months to accept
Navigator, who moved into Bobby's stall. Each night she and I say good night to Bobby Sox,
and I believe it's a comfort to her to hear his name. She's special, this Inch.
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 I look at the sadness in my big girl's eyes. She has taken on the same mission as I
- taking care of the elderly. And so she loses one friend after another ... First Bobby, then
Charra, and most recently, in June of 2008, the sweet Mitey Nice. Inch is older now too. As a
horse her size approaches her 30th birthday, I must remember that her days are numbered too
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Inch has begun to caretake Mitey Nice, and Charra, two elderly ponies. She is
so kind to them, and always worried about where they are. It makes me sad, when she's
due for more grief as these old ladies pass onward, but it seems to be her mission.
Below, she stands guard over Mitey, only months before the Mitey Mite passed on.
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