Goldfinch 1985 - 2011

Some people may already know from a couple of cross posts, that I lost my old event horse yesterday.  He died in the afternoon, in the sunshine and I stayed with him until he had gone.  He had been ill since Christmas but he spent his last week in his field with his friends, happy and pain free due to the powers of modern veterinary medicine.  But with no chance of improvement and the pain suspended only temporarily there was only one kind choice.  So I am afraid that I have stitched very little and posted even less this last week as I have spent most of it standing quietly in the field with him whilst he was grazing on the new spring grass.  I will be stitching Martina's (Chatelaine) Goldfinch to replace one of the birds on Winter Watergarden and Martina has charted a tiny pieces of text for me to stitch secretly next to it, more on this when I get to that part of the design in a few months time.

I will leave his page up for a month or so and there are more pictures on there, including the Christmas dressage where he put up with more tinsel on him than my Christmas tree!

So now just a couple my most special pictures of how I will remember him, at work and at rest.

Goldfinch

1985 - 2011

Where in this wide world can man find nobility without pride,
Friendship without envy,
Or beauty without vanity?
Here, where grace is served with muscle
And strength by gentleness confined
He serves without servility; he has fought without enmity.
There is nothing so powerful, nothing less violent.
There is nothing so quick, nothing more patient.
England's past has been borne on his back.
All our history is in his industry.
We are his heirs, he our inheritance.

THE HORSE by Ronald Duncan