Texas Equine Veterinary Association

www.texasequineva.com • page 30 I watched Ellen say goodbye to her horse. I watched it from a far and wondered what emotions must be running through her mind. It is hard to say goodbye. People build bonds with things they love and almost never consider that the depth of their emotion is tenured by time and circumstance. Wonderful things never last long enough and horrible things seems to last forever. Ellen was facing the reality that horses don't live as long as people. Neither do dogs or cats or whatever noun you want to fill in the blank of suffering from the loss of something that didn't last as long as we had anticipated. As a veterinarian, I have seen this actuality come to fruition many times. In 1990 when I started this career, I figured that time would temper the heart ache it caused me when I watch heart break and eventually I would become calloused to it and behave like a professional. I have learned after 25 years that the opposite has occurred; I have grown to be even less able to endure it. I think it tells us a lot about the human condition. We were built to love and take care of things. We find comfort in seeing to it that life progresses in a happy manor and that we somehow have a part in keeping entropy from being the rule. Animals need us. And we need them. We need them to let us love them and we need to feel like we make a difference in them that they appreciate and long for, even if it is not the case. Ellen held the head of her horse gently in her arms and let her tears run down her cheeks into the eyes of that sweet, sweet animal that had captured her attention for years. Time had run its course and the unchanging circumstance of life had captured the moment. Sometimes I write these stories and I feel laughter that I do my best to express. Sometimes I write them to educate about what veterinarians do behind the scenes to help people and animals be happy. And sometimes I write them to convey that life is a series of deep emotions that all the participants in have every right to cry about. The wonderful thing about my job is trying my best not to separate those emotions, but to reflect the fact that they somehow all fit together to make doing what we do everyday an adventure and an event worthy or writing down. Ellen will be ok. She told me as she left that she would have to rely on the wonderful memories she shared with her horse to keep that critter living in spirit even after the physical was gone. I found some peace for her in that. TIDBIT FROM BROCK by BO BROCK, DVM, DABVP

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