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Inch - 30+ year old Thoroughbred mare, 17 hand chestnut with white blaze, ex-race horse, broodmare, and jumper. Inch was sent
to me by Debbie and Steve Peden. She's got training for miles, but is a little excitable and has ringbone in her left fore. This is a horse with a great pedigree who would love to be a mother again, but
I don't breed horses. Inch is mostly just a ride for me. At a walk or (very long strided) trot, she’s great. She'll be a good step up for more advanced riders.
Inch holds a special place in my heart because of her long friendship with Bobby Sox. Although She’s 17 hands and he was barely 14 hands,
she was Bobby’s “woman” - his status symbol or trophy wife if you will. She tolerated his napoleonic ways, holding Joy as a proper sized boyfriend in the background. In the last year of Bobby’s life, Inch
gently switched to being his protector. As his eyesight failed, he would get separated from her in the herd and stand calling for her. She would carefully move to a locaton where he could catch her scent and
find his way to her side, granting him reassurance and saving his face in the process. When Bobby Sox died, Inch was inconsolable, and showed great rage towards me until the night I broke down in her stall
pleading for her to understand that I had to help him on his way. Amazingly enough, it seems she thought I didn’t care. She walked carefully to me, dropped her head in my chest for the first time in months,
and stood quietly in my arms letting me cry. I had never believed that animals understood the concept of death, but her behavior was all to typical of a friend or family member in the same
situation. She also took many months to accept Navigator, who moved into Bobby’s stall. Each night, she and I say good night to Bobby Sox, and I believe it’s a comfort to her to hear his
name. She’s special, this Inch.
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