Remembering Erin's Kid Icarus

EM's Miniature Horses began late in the summer of 1998 when I purchased a small colt from a local breeder. The colt was adorable - a little brown ball of fluff with a long snow-white mane and tail. He was only 3 months old the day I brought him home...little did I know that he was only going to be with us for a few months more.

Erin's Kid Icarus, or "Iggy", was my very first horse let alone miniature horse. I had a few years of experience with the standard sized animal, but never such a small one...26 inches to be exact. Iggy ended up being raised more like a dog than an equine. He was given free reign of the yard, rarely ever was he penned, and he was occasionally allowed in the house. He even had a little stuffed monkey to sleep with that would squeak whenever he'd play with it. But most of all, he loved to run with the dogs.

Icarus caught on to the halter thing rather quickly but didn't like to be led around. He loved his freedom more than I will ever be able to appreciate...but he loved me even more. I was a 'horse' to him just like he was a friend to me. Everyday, when walking home from the bus stop, I would call out his name and I would get a heart-warming whinny in return. Then he would prance around his little field until I would come and visit him. But he still did prefer to run loose with the dogs, no matter how much I pleaded my family to keep him in the pasture. I knew that such freedom for a small horse couldn't be good and that something would eventually happen...afterall we do live in the middle of the woods and hunting season is very big in this area...and my little brown fluff-ball did look very much like a deer...I was wrong about what would happen though...

One muddy afternoon around 5:00, during one of Iggy's favorite running sessions, he slipped and fell. Icarus slid head first into a stone fire pit, breaking his neck on impact. I saw it all and no matter how loud I screamed for help, nothing would have helped my friend then. That night, I lost my one true love and my very best friend. Iggy showed me what it was like to have my very own pet to love and to train, to care for and to actually be responsible for. It was very hard for me to let him go that cold February evening, but I knew I had to. I took Icarus' death very hard and I still occasionally find myself crying at night with a little bit of his tail entangled around my fingers. But I know he is still with me even though I can't see him in the flesh. His spirit is here, guiding me always and I will meet up with him again...someday...

~Erin's Kid Icarus~
May 21st, 1998 - February 5th, 1999
"He had barely begun to live..."

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