A Death in the Family

By Father Mack
(a.k.a.: Father Larry David McCormick)
Line drawings by Mrs. Gertrud Mueller Nelson

In spite of the proximity of the school year I do not want you fleeing in terror, Virginia, for fear that this is a book report based upon James Agee’s justly famous tome by the same title. Far from such a thing, I propose to offer for your and my benefit a sort of “primer” upon the ages-old and yet fearsome topic of death and dying.

These ruminations are prompted by the number of deaths – both human and equine – that have been reported in the horse world recently. Let us work from the greater to the lesser. Our good friend, Astrid Appels, was the first person to bring to many of us the sad news of the death of the dressage mentor and Reitmeister, Georg Theodorescu. Our hearts go out to his gifted daughter, Monica, and much-loved wife, Inge, at their loss.

By no means comparing the death of one of God’s superior creations to the passing of four-footed friends, there has been a fair share of our hooved buddies who have seen their last days on Earth just recently. Followers of Dressage Daily will have read of the special remembrance paid to Doctor Cesar Parra’s exceptional mount, Donovan when your humble scrivener was honored with the opportunity to ask God’s blessings upon the Parra homestead and their stables, Performance Farm. http://www.dressagedaily.com/2007/dd_200707/dd_20070730.html

Outside the stall last occupied by this noble beast we paused for a moment and gave thanks for all that Donovan had brought into the lives of the dressage family who had seen him compete. If your Internet connection is too slow to even think about downloading the booklet presenting the full blessing ritual , the prayer of thanksgiving at the time of a beloved horse’s death is appended to today’s article.

Since Donovan’s untimely death we have been informed of the death of Galant du Serein. Here, again, a lovely creature has gone to meet his maker well before his time. As the article telling of this champion’s death reported, his death is all the more lamentable because he was coming into his own as a stallion standing at stud. Permit me to send my condolences to Ms. Whitten and the team of Horses Unlimited who must miss him with unspeakable grief.

Having now doffed my cap and bowed my head for a moment of prayer and reflection to acknowledge the deaths of these worthies of the dressage world, bereavement comes closer to home – to Ruth’s and my home, in fact – at the death of Ruth’s first horse, Greta Garbo, just this past weekend.

Readers of Dressage Daily who are not in the stratosphere of the sport may occasionally feel themselves dissociated from the events we report here. However, as sages through all time have acknowledged, death is the great equalizer. Greta (she was an off-the-track Thoroughbred who Ruth “repurposed” for the art of dressage) was never going to be in the echelon of the horses you and I read about every day in these pages. She was an honest horse. That is high praise where I come from. To be honest is to give your best, to try, to work with your partner until you are both satisfied.