Marcel & Me ~ Chapter 8

Marcel's papers demonstrate a rather sad fact of the life of a show horse. Pam is number 10 on his list of owners. July 2006 they had a special private celebration together. Pam had officially owned Marcel twice as long as any other person in his life! This goes a long way in explaining why he wasn't friendly the first time they met.

In this span of time they were involved in a few public sidesaddle performances. As usual, sometimes they did very well and sometimes they did not.

"Marcel is of the mindset that he should retire but I won't let him. We still have more to do!" Pam said "I think Marcel is a goodwill ambassador for former performance Saddlebreds and he is one fine representative of his breed! We may not show saddleseat anymore. but he's still and always will be an "A" class horse!"

Now one of the more senior horses at the barn, Marcel appointed himself "Barn Administrator, Equine Division". He took it upon himself to know which horse was suppose to be in which pasture and which human belonged to which horse. A friend of Pam's said, "If you aren't the right person taking a horse out of his pasture, you need a hall pass to get by Marcel."

But Pam adds,"Marcel will herd the correct horse to the gate when an owner comes out."

At 6:30 on the morning of November 12, 2008 Pam received a frantic phone call from the stable. "Marcel is down! You have to come now!"

Two vets worked on Marcel through the day, but by late afternoon they knew it was time. Marcel was put down up the hill from his barn.

"My beautiful boy was gone." Pam grieved.

Without being asked, the barn owner said he could be buried on the farm where he had lived the longest. He now rests on the highest point of the farm. Pam said to her sister Lisa he didn't really have a connection to the spot.

Lisa told her, "It's the perfect place for him. He can see the whole farm from here and always watch over the other horses."
Rest in Peace sweet Clownface!

edited to add:
Here is a link to another write up about Marcel.
http://themanepoint.blogspot.com/2008/11/farewell-to-friend.html