THE DEATH OF KHOMET
Tragically, "out of the blue", my very special and beloved friend, my Arabian horse, Khomet passed away on 13 April 2008.
One day Khomet was a healthy, happy horse. The next day he was dead.
"Like a "Khomet" blazing 'cross the evening sky Gone Too Soon. Like a rainbow fading in the twinkling of an eye Gone Too Soon. Shiny and sparkly and splendidly bright Here One Day Gone One Night." ~ Michael Jackson (song writers Larry Grossman; Alan Kohan).
This is a photo of Khomet taken prior to his death. No one can mistake how strong and healthy he was and his love for me. His eyes seemed to pierce through the camera lens into my soul. This is the way it has always been between Khomet and myself, even before we physically met.
I will never recover from the trauma of seeing Khomet's lifeless body loaded off the back of a truck on 14 April 2008 because of the appalling way Khomet was treated the day he died. Khomet was given no chance to continue to live, and he fought so very hard to live. Just as Khomet deserved to be honoured and respected in life, I ensured he was honoured and respected after his passing. I supervised his burial here at his home where he was so very happy and deeply loved by all of us. Khomet was the gift to me of a lifetime and I will always miss him very deeply.
Khomet fell in love with a beautiful mare whose name is Molly and she loved Khomet too. I have shown a photo of Molly and Khomet below. Molly's mum, who I believe has been involved with horses most of her life and is a riding instructor, said to me after Khomet's passing that she had never met a human so devoted to a horse as I was to Khomet. I wish this could make me feel better but it does not.
I will find some peace when I achieve justice for Khomet.
When Khomet passed away, understandably I suffered an extreme grief reaction. However, Charlamayne, Khomet's little mate was grieving too and my English Setters were grieving and worrying about me, so I had to keep going. At first I tried to "put my grief on hold" because of other issues going on at the time, but the harder I tried to fight, the stronger my grief took a hold of me. There is no escaping grief because grief is the price tag of love.
One has to be very careful of cyber bullying at all times but particularly when you are the most vulnerable in the early stages of your grief because human be-ings can behave shamefully. When I was at my lowest, in the depths of despair for Khomet, I was bullied without reason or provocation by members of a dog blogging internet community. Khomet was a special and important part of my dog blog, the sole purpose of which was to find Beau. If only the dogs could manage their own blogs then nastiness would not occur!!!
Because of the breakdown in society many human beings are forming stronger bonds with animals than with other humans. It is a wonderful experience to give and to receive Unconditional Love. Some human beings may try to make you feel stupid for loving and grieving for an animal because an animal is considered by them to be inferior to the human species. However ...
Unconditional love and grief have no boundaries.
These are some words from the book 'Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart' written by Gordon Livingston, M.D.
"Even now, 13 years later, words cannot contain the grief that has been my companion since that awful day. Like all who mourn I learned an abiding hatred for the word "closure", with its comforting implications that grief is a time-limited process from which we all recover. The idea that I could reach a point when I would no longer miss my children was obscene to me and I dismissed it."
Dare I say it again .. Khomet and Beau and my animal family are my children. In this 'Me, Me, Me' society, I am proud to say that Khomet and Beau and my animal family are more important than me.
If you look at the videos on the Media Stories web page you will see my beautiful Khomet and the other members of Beau's family.
Despite everything that I have tried to do to find Beau, all the family he knew except for me, his mum, have died since he was stolen from us.
This photo was taken in 2002 after Sparkie had died. Khomet and Beau consoled each other because they both loved Sparkie and they were both grieving for her. Sparkie was the first Horse Beau met and they formed an instant, devoted friendship with each other. There is a photo of Sparkie and Beau on the About Beau web page.
Never again will Beau be able to come for walks with Khomet and me.
Never again will I be able to feel Khomet's kisses and the gentle way he touched my face and nibbled my shoulder. Never again will I be able to brush Khomet, feed him, hold him, kiss him and tell him how very much I loved him. Never again will I be able to smile as Khomet tossed his beautiful Arabian head in the air. Never again will I hear Khomet's banging on the door to give him his carrots.
Even though I hold on to the hope that one day I will be reunited with Khomet and my loved ones in Heaven, death and grief are terrrible experiences to survive. Some moments I feel as if the pain of my grief is literally going to kill me too. Unfortunately all my tears can never bring my loved ones back to me. Through honouring my grief I eventually reach a stage of acceptance, but my life will never be the same. I will never stop missing Khomet and Beau.
The apathy towards stolen companion animals in Australia is appalling and is a national disgrace.
Since the tragic death on 3 August 2011 of my English Setter, Hammer, who is Beau's brother, my hope in finding Beau diminished significantly. I felt I had lost them both, my precious boys. However I did not give up and I kept hoping that one day I would find Beau. Sadly I now have to accept that I will not see Beau again.
"Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get, only with what you are expecting to give, which is everything." ~ Katherine Hepburn.
