I once entered a dive tournament and won a horse. The horse, Spirit was never really meant to be a prize but belonged to the people who hosted the tournament and when they saw him following me around and saw how much we bonded they asked me to adopt him because they were moving to another country and couldn’t bring him with. I had no experience with horses and lived in Honolulu with nowhere to keep a horse. But my parents live on Maui and have a pasture so I called them and told them I had a free horse for them, to which my dad replied “there’s no such thing as a free horse.” Nonetheless I shipped him to Maui with the help of Tsutomu Hawaii and Angela and Rick Bettua who split the shipping costs with me and my dad finally caved in and gave Spirit a happy home. He became best friends with the neighbor’s horse and got along with all the animals on the property. His best friend just died a couple nights ago while I was visiting Maui and Spirit and I were both right there in the dark, trying to save him in his final hours.
Spirit hasn’t moved from the spot where he saw his friend pass that night. I spoke to his previous owner who is very spiritual and she asked me to do a ceremony with sage and cedar with spirit and tell him it’s ok. I must admit I felt silly to entertain the thought but wanted to carry out her wishes. So before flying out, with the help (and constant prodding) of my 10 year old friend Lea, who came equipped with flowers, carrots, a flute, violin and together we found both cedar and sage, we had a ceremony for Spirit and his fallen friend yesterday and he watched every second so intently. When we were done he made a this happy horse noise and finally walked away from the spot he had been standing in for days. Lea looked at me and said “he said thank you” and I had to agree. Today the neighbors called and said Spirit has been doing great and is back to relaxing in the pasture. So thankful for 10 year olds who I can use as my excuse to do things I might have otherwise not done. – for their ability to believe in the magic of doing good and showing kindness.