The beginning and the middle and the

 Old Friends.

I KNOW you've been worried about Butch, and so I roused him from his stall-rest. Sadly, he got cast at the beginning, but soon righted himself. That good breading, ya know. Legs made of mild steel and all.

He's officially a pensioner now. Holly cow...

Butch's Breading Perfiticate

How amazing, how well he's lasted. There's a lovely BBC program "Repair Shop" that, not surprisingly, repairs/restores old treasures. Really talented group of people, with steady hands and expert craft.

They've revived Teddy Bears and the transformation was wondrous. I think Butch prefers his original hide. How I wish we had an old "out of the box" picture of him. I honestly have no memory of his first three years, they must have been... challenging for him. At any rate, by the time he's in the pictures, he looks pretty much like now, but with more hair. You can see his poor former chestnut (sorrel??) hairs hanging out beneath his  Registered WarmBelly perfiticate.

I was terribly jealous of bigger yet shorter older sister, as her brand new toy horse looked waaaaaaay too good. I ThinK I was three when sister's arrived. Much drama ensued, I vaguely remember :)

Sisters horse sure didn't last, have NO idea why :)

Apparently, as a good chestnut should, Butch allowed his (mild steel, see perfiticate above) push bars to be snapped, cleanly enough to pose no danger to me, the kid who snapped it. I do NOT remember doing it!! Who needs the damn push bars anyway, we rided!

Probably my first fall from a chestnut, when you think about it. 

Not my last, which was a long time ago now! I think it was Amber, the killer schoolie, but not sure...

Anyway, for posterity, my first friend and now yours, Butch. Still with all his ticking.

Still rolling, too.

What a horse.