"Well it seems hard to believe but after some 10 years with her as a steadfast, reliable but colorful and loved member of the family, Seka has moved on to that single certainty that awaits us all. Complications of her recent surgery have gotten the best of her and, too, ended a wonderful phase in the collective lives of the Norumbega community. In retrospect, it seems hard to fathom; after all, aside from a disease that left her neck with a peculiar indentation, her health has never been in question, especially in comparison to that spotted equine in the barn. One could say that she took a back seat to the numerous dramas and scares that Tonka has caused over the years.

The more problems Tonka presented to us, the more obvious it seemed to become that we could always count on Seka to be the rock of the barn for which Morgans are so well known. It would have almost been seen as overly protective or pampering to examine her for more than her weight.

There was no rider too experienced or inexperienced that wasn't suited for the back of that mare, and similar were her capabilities with the wide variety of trails that lay all around the barn. She would walk nonchalantly down Woodman RoaNord as gladly as she would canter and gallop through the neighbor's fields and up Cleave's Road. But her contributions to the Norumbega community are not limited to the pleasure we humans got from a sunny afternoon ride with her, she has long been the close companion of that much more fragile barn resident: Tonka. It was not a rare day to see the two of them standing nose to nose or rump to nose in the pasture, no less enjoying the presence of the other than a warm summer sun and a verdant field of grass.

With her passing, not only has the human community of Norumbega been rocked, but so too has the life of one slightly less hearty aging appaloosa. As anyone who has lost a loved one can say, the experience is overcome by learning the lesson of acceptance and reconciliation to this fact of life, but what of those who lack an understanding of what has happened. After reaching those difficult places personally, I will still be encumbered by the sorrow that Tonka is robbed of feeling. Perhaps he can perceive these events on some intuitive level, but I only wish I knew that he wasn't now in a state of uncertainty. Long after I finish mourning Seka's passing, I will still feel for the blindness that extends far beyond my buddy Tonka's eyes." Noah and Michael Fralich milajuno@aol.com