Alibar: Two Years Later…

Two weeks ago, there were 47 horses at Camelot Auction who needed homes. The auction is on Wednesday night, and we have until Saturday afternoon to get private homes for the horses who did not sell on auction night. If these horses cannot find homes during this time, they are at risk for being shipped to slaughter.

I headed up to Saratoga Racecourse to photograph the Travers Stakes, thinking about the horses for much of my drive. I sent a text message to my mom asking if the horses had been sold, and continued my drive north. I arrived at the track and began my photo work. In the paddock before one of the first races of the day, I was taking pictures of horses and people when someone approached me. I probably gave him a blank look for a moment, but recognition flooded my mind as he introduced himself as Dr. Belgrave from Mid-Atlantic Equine. He is the director of the Internal Medicine Department and he worked with Alibar at the clinic when he was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma. I’ll never forget Dr. Belgrave’s compassion during Alibar’s stay at the clinic.

As I thanked Dr. Belgrave for his wonderful work and talked a little racing, I could feel my mobile phone buzzing that I had a text message. After I walked to the track, I checked my message: “ALL HORSES ARE SOLD.”

It was the collision of two worlds: my goodbye to Alibar and the weekly group of horses at auction looking for homes. It has been exactly two years since I lost my wonderful horse. I miss him and would love to still have him around, but it would have been selfish to ask for any more out of the time we spent. We packed about as many adventures and care into our 19 years together as we possibly could.