One of the most poignant moments of the weekend came Sunday, when Pamela decided to march the big and beautiful draft  horses out to the tree where Paul Moshimer took his life, to say goodbye to him. Paul loved the horses and always fought for them, it his hard to imagine a more appropriate goodbye.

Pamela and the staff worked for several hours to brush the horses, braid their tails and put ribbons on their manes, Paul’s family and fellow workers and volunteers at the farm rode the horses a half-mile from their stables out to the tree in the big pasture. They circled the tree four times, and then went to visit Paul’s favorite places along the beautiful river than runs behind the farm. Everyone on those horses knew Paul and Pamela, they are a family unto themselves, a new and inspiring way of looking at the world.

This silent ceremony left me speechless in it’s beauty and simplicity, the horses were quiet and steady, there is no question they sensed the atmosphere and the emotions of the people around them, they were eager to participate and somber.

Paul believed strong that the spirits of the horses were reaching out across time to challenge human beings to keep them among us, to treat one another with love and dignity, to care for the troubled and the poor. He helped make Blue Star a place were people are rescued all the time, not just animals. Where people are treated with love and dignity, not just animals. He believed the horses had called upon me to write about them and speak for them, even as my own cynicism and fear blocked that idea.

I do not know what animals thing or what the horses might have sensed or felt walking beneath the tree where a person they loved and were deeply connected to died just a few days ago. Paul’s spirit and presence were palpable around that tree, if I sensed it, the horses, with their exquisite instincts and senses, surely did. Paul was everywhere in that circle.

In his honor, I will work to be more open to it. Maria rode on Luna, one of the draft horses, and it was an extraordinary thing to see her up there on that big horse, confident and comfortable. The horses are speaking to us in so many different ways.