​Tearsong's Equine Athletes, Rescue, and Sanctuary
Sometimes it becomes necessary to ease one of our charges to the endless sleep that euthanasia gives. Old age, insurmoutable injury, or lack of will to continue on all creep up on our horses in the rescue and once they leave to a forever home. We have been fortunate that not many have left us after all these years, but those we know of are commemorated here.... TEARS very own Rainbow Bridge. More will be added as we go down memory lane with our photos, or as we are notified by an adopter that one has passed. If you hover over the pictures or click on one, the horse's story will come up.
We have a tradition of toasting each and every animal that leaves us... horses from the rescue or animals in the care of our volunteers, founders, and board members... we even toast our Facebook friends losses... if you are moved by any of the stories here... toast the life and celebrate the joy these horses gave everyone who knew of them.
Rainbow Bridge
There is a bridge connecting heaven and earth
It is called Rainbow Bridge because of its many colours
Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of meadows,
hills, valleys with lush green grass
When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this special place
There is always food and water and warm spring weather
The old and frail are young again
Those who are maimed are made whole again
They play all day with each other
There is only one thing missing
They are not with their special person who loved them on Earth
So each day they run and play until the day comes
when one suddenly stops playing and looks up !
The nose twitches !
The ears are up !
The eyes are staring !
And this one suddenly runs from the group !
You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet,
you take him or her into your arms and embrace
your face is kissed again and again,
and you look once more into the eyes of your trusting pet
Then you cross the Rainbow Bridge together, never again to be separated
Author Unknown
Hawkeye is the horse that started it all. He wasn't our first rescue, but he was the soul that taught us that we are partners in this world and souls need saving... horse or human. Read his story on the home page to find out how it all began.
Rescued from a ranch in Texas where there was little to no food, he was only a year old and had never been handled. Bugs turned onto a puppy dog in about 3 days. Over the years he was a trail donkey. driving burro, and overall fun companion for some very active girls. Nathan ended up adopting him after falling in love with him during driving lessons.
Here is one of the active girls jumping him... he really enjoyed those girls.
Once and only once bugs was entered into a dressage show in the intro level. This little guy was so special... he was sent to the Rainbow Bridge in 2013 at the age of 24. He had a catastrophic spinal disk failure that the veterinarians couldn't fix.
Kate came to TEARS as Ms Leroy, an OTTB who was thrown away to a family pregnant. They allowed the colt to eat all the food, moved him in with 2 other horses, they became skinny, so they moved him back. She was 300 lb underweight when TEARS took her. She was retired after serving as a lesson horse for a few years. She let us know when it was time to just be an education horse. We sent her to the Rainbow Bridge in 2011 at the age of 25. Arthritis was too much for her.
Kate was the love of Barron's life and they passed within 2 months of each other. Barron went first. He was probably somewhere between 30 and 40 years old when he became dizzy and started spinning out of control. He was treated and 2 days from rejoining Kate when he started again. This time we didn't ask him to try again. Barron was a retired handicapped riding horse and was rescued from ignorant and abusive children who pestered him into aggressiveness.
Barron was a trooper and the absolute most wonderful education horse we have ever had. Every 6-9 weeks he would allow veterinary technician students to paint the skeleton of a horse onto his body. Then he would walk and trot for the students to see how everything works in a 4 legged animal that weighs 1000 lb. We really miss Barron at the rescue. He had a way of tilting his head and neck when he wanted to be pet... even if you were several hundred yards away.
You were only 4 days old when you left us. We didn't even get to know you enough for you to tell us your name. We still miss you and hope you wait for us at the Rainbow Bridge
