Rienzi (1981-2010)

(Photograph copyright 2010 by Dan Routh)

One of the things about living on a farm is that you are surrounded by the cycle of life, the annual growth of crops and with livestock the progression from birth to death. Sometimes it's harder to experience than other times. About 2 weeks ago our beloved horse Rienzi left us. We have had the privilege of having her with us for 28 years. She was a "mustang", a wild horse from the Skedaddle Mountains near Lake Tahoe on the border of California and Nevada. We adopted her when she was a yearling and she has shared our life and gained our respect for all those many years. The end of the cycle has been hard for us and we will miss her. My son Devin writes about her best.

The ivory streak along her face
reminds me of a comet's tail,
and every morning she would race
much like a comet through the fields.

She came from empty desert hills,
a Mustang from Nevada.
Her kind was always being killed
for glue and wasted fodder.

So in our pastures she found home
alongside our small herd of cows.
She'd follow them where'er they roamed;
We'd laugh and watch her as we plowed.

At nights she'd come to her corral
and rest there 'til the break of day.
She'd nip at us, pretend to scowl
if we replaced sweet feed with hay.

And now she rests beneath two trees
that grow between our pond and barn.
Above her, cows chew cud at ease;
She's with her herd and on our farm.

(Poetry copyright 2010 by Devin Routh)