Moving On...

Normally when families lose a cherished pet, it can be quite some time before they're ready to move on and bring in a new member of the family. There are a few reasons for this. Most people feel that, like a widower who begins dating the day after the funeral, it's disrespectful to their recently deceased animal to "replace" it so soon. Many simply need a period of time to grieve and adjust to life without the dearly departed before they can consider ANOTHER big change in bringing in and adjusting to a new addition.

...unfortunately, sometimes there are extenuating circumstances...

As you may know, we lost a dear friend last week (see below). But as close as the HUMAN members of the clan may have been to Bella, she and her fellow equine Stackhouse, Clyde, were inseparable (Bella & Clyde, pictured left as their superhero alter-ego's, SuperBella & Clyderman!) The big guy has been understandably a little lost for the last several days. So, for Clyde's sake, despite the fact that the REST of the family may have ideally wanted a little extra time, and thanks to the same source that gave us Bella, we will soon have a new addition to the family.

Dusty(right) is a 5 year old standardbred. He retired early from a career at EPR (quite possibly due to an apparent case of acute laziness... a quality far more appreciated in a pleasure horse than in a racer!) Dusty has had folks sit on him bareback, but isn't broke to saddle yet, which puts him at ROUGHLY the same spot Clyde was at when we got him at 5 years old.

As I stated before, Bella could never be replaced, and will ALWAYS be missed, but the arrival of Dusty will start a new chapter for us all, if perhaps a little sooner than we expected.

-Stack