20 September 2023

It’s been a sad week at Old Friends. Last Friday Lady Grizzley, a sweet mare who had lived with us since 2016, lost her battle with an infection and its complications and was euthanized. Her death preceded by three days that of her breeder and owner, Eclipse Award winning breeder and generous friend to Old Friends, Governor Brereton Jones.

Last Monday we unexpectedly lost Amazombie, 2011 sprint champion and one of our all-time visitor favorites, who also had to be euthanized when he sustained a fracture that precluded hope of healing with any quality of life. I’m preparing a separate post and “Remembering” video for Amazombie that I hope to upload in a day or two. There aren’t enough photos of Lady Grizzley for a slide show. In most, she’s only somewhat visible as one of the herd with whom she shared happy years. In this post, Rick Capone, who knew her better than most, shares his memories of her.

Beth

Lady Grizzley
May 17, 2006 – Sept 15, 2023

I always enjoy visiting the mares’ paddock on the back 40 at Old Friends. I go there all the time to visit my favorite mare, Miss Hooligan, but I always enjoy spending time with the other mares, as well. Lady Grizzley was one of those mares that I spent some time with when I visited.

Over the years, Lady Grizzley played a couple of different roles in the mares’ paddock. When she first arrived, she worked her way through the hierarchy to become best friends with Santona, who was the leader of the herd at the time. So Lady Grizzley became the assistant leader and protector of Santona.

Lady Grizzley sharing a back scratch with Santona

When Santona passed away, Lady Grizzley seemed to miss her friend, but she knew she had a job to do and she assumed the role as the new leader of the mare’s paddock. While she kept mostly to herself in the paddock, she could also be a bossy leader at times, especially when someone stopped by to visit the mares. At first, she’d push the other mares aside each time to get to the fence first, then after she got some carrots and loving, she’d let the others come over to get some loving, too.

She wasn’t pushing the others away because she was being mean though. I thought she did it to get people’s attention because when visitors came, it was usually to see one of the higher profile mares. Few came to the paddock especially to see her. Maybe she was a little jealous become some of the other mares had someone who was “their” special person, and she didn’t. That’s why I always took time to visit only with her when I was there. She grew to look forward to my visits as much as Miss Hooligan did.

I will miss seeing Lady Grizzley when I visit the mares, but I will always remember our times together and what seemed to be her look of gratitude because she knew I enjoyed her company and liked spending time just with her.

Rick
photos by Laura