Growing up with animals.

I find it amazing how we learn so much when we grow up with animals. We can tell when something is wrong with them, and how they're feeling. We also learn what is healthy for an animal as we grow up around them. My example would be when I got my second horse, Tess, I didn't really notice how skinny she was when we got her, but I look back at photos now and it's a wow factor.

We really do learn just as much from our furry or feathered or scaly friends as they learn from us. We learn how to live with different personalities. Tess the horse above, was a very personable horse, but had a love hate relationship with other horses. Beat them up when she was with them then start freaking out if she thought they were leaving. My other horse, that I still have, Lady, is an all round horse, but she's more of a one person horse, she prefers me to anyone else.

It seems as though animals can make us laugh, cry, lift our spirits and crash them down. As we grow we become attached then have the disappointment of, in most cases, outliving the animals we love so much. We accept death as we get older as part of life, but that doesn't make it any easier. The original horse pictured above, died about 4 years after I got her (that was 2 years ago now), and it's still hard. We learn a lot from animals, then to watch them suffer is heartbreaking, but we still keep getting them. We buy horses, or dogs, or snakes, or birds, even when we know what it must come to. We must have a desire for connection so powerful that the means actually justify the ends. All the good moments, the learning, the happiness all beats out the pain of loosing them.

I'm sorry I'm all over the place in this..I wasn't sure were I was going with it when I started.