02/06/2026
In Memory of CHARLIE, THE WILD CHILD
ROMAC KHAL’EL (Superman's Kryptonian name).
22 December 1995 - 1 June 2026 (30 years old)
Bright Red Purebred Arabian Son of Arjai Summit, Grandson of the Legendary Ralvon Pilgrim.
CHARLIE was KEREWONG NR. 1.
My first horse in Australia (since 2001).
I imagine the story goes like this:
Superman has galloped across the rainbow bridge, flying towards the Heavenly Pastures Gateway. He probably ran someone over on the rainbow. Of course he did.
Kamal and Dream had to be quick to open the gate so he wouldn't crash into the gate or them. There, on the other side, I can picture his serene big sister Kiya, the quintessential gracious grey Arabian mare, waiting for him. For 5 years she waited to be reunited with her silly little brother. Finally they are one again. The lunatic and the muse.
----
Even here on earth, the timeline of events made it be, that Charlie’s grave is right next to Kiya. I felt a shiver, when I realised his body is resting next to hers now. Side by side again in death, like they always were in life.
Was it her divine intervention, that a month ago, the first time Charlie couldn’t get up, a clinic was being held just a few metres from where he was lying. So he was spotted and helped up quickly. SO Lucky!, we all said.
Then, in the past 3 weeks, the 3 times Charlie decided to go down for a roll, was right in front of my eyes. Each time I was there to help him get up within minutes. We could start to believe, that his sister Kiya was watching over him, and calling him. Charlie’s time was up and all I had to do was let him go and pick a good day, before it would be too late for that option and events would run their own course.
---
What I learned yesterday is that even if your horse has reached the milestone of 30 years old, you still wish you had more time with him. You move that ruler a little bit further away, maybe to 31. When they turn 32, you say, maybe I can get another year, push that ruler to 33. And so on. There will never be a good day to let them go for you, but there can be a good day for the horse. And even if a horse looks in good health, moves beautifully, still can run fast, has bright eyes, eats well, looks nothing but happy when you watch him eating grass in the paddock, he may not be able to arise from lying down. For reasons not fully understood.
If your ultimate goal is to gift your horses not only a good long life, but to complete it with a good death, you must accept the things you cannot change, and act. Do what is within your power, for the horse.
And so for a horse who was a bit "special" all his life, the silly lunatic, the injury-prone one, the brainless one, the one we would always make funny jokes about, the one all the other horses picked on, the fastest one, the Ferrari, the fastest horse I've ever ridden, the one we expected would end badly in some tragic stupid silly paddock accident, and finally the one who would forget that he should not go down for a roll because he can't get up, Charlie was gifted the most uneventful good death of all my horses to date. Looking a picture of health and not a worry in the world, at an age nobody who ever knew him in his younger years, would have expected him to reach. How bizarre life can be.
Although he lived the last 5 years without his beloved big sister, now that he is gone I can only think about the 25 years he got to spend together with Kiya, who's purpose in life was to look after him. The special brother and sister pair, but "special" for completely opposite reasons.
Never the sharpest tool in the shed, but always the fastest horse in the herd. The horse who knew his name perfectly well, because I yelled it to him so many times in his many moments of silliness. I will always feel Charlie's crazy energy whizzing around and inside of me.
** The photos: Because Charlie started as very much my own horse with the first 2 years just preparing for the opening of the horse business, and became very much my own horse again during his ridiculously long retirement, here's photos of Charlie and me and Charlie and Kiya. I did not have iPhone or a good camera back then so I don't have that many of him. He did do many years of working on the trails with riding guests (2004-2015). And of course he always delivered for the riders who asked for a spicy fast horse.
----
I imagine the story continues like this:
While Charlie summersaulted across the Heavenly Pastures, little Aliya was looking back over the rainbow. There was hesitation before closing the gate again. Is our King Manni coming too? When will Copper be here?
But Matriarch Ness pushed the gate shut and said: it is not time for them yet. Manni thinks he still has Important Business as usual. Copper still believes the entrance to the Rainbow Bridge is via the house. So we wait.
The end
