Perfectly Preserved
Sadly, Farmstead Riding Academy does not have a happy ending. I knew that the stable owner was a doctor, but I never new what he practiced. It didn’t seem to matter much to me then. Dr. Carhart however, is an active Right To Choose, abortion physician. The Army had relocated Melissa’s family to Florida right about the same time we moved back to NY. Melissa called me one afternoon to share with me the horrific news. The Carhart family had received a devastating phone call. The Right To Life enthusiast on the other end of the phone, made a statement suggesting; that their horses should suffer a terrible fate the way the unborn children do at the doctor’s hands. The stable at that point was on fire. It was devoured by flames and all of the horses captured inside were needlessly murdered. These “people” that believe in a right to live, apparently only apply those ideas of feeling pain and suffrage to a human life. They gave no reverence at all to the beautiful loving creatures that were peacefully resting in their stalls when they unwillingly became a part, a victim, of a public protest.
All of my favorite horses, friends, that taught me to ride and so much about life were lost forever. My parents tried to ease my pain, by explaining that they most likely passed out from smoke inhalation before their bodies actually burned. That was really no comfort to me at all. When I think about my stable where I learned to ride, I try to never picture it on fire, or the scorched out shell of a barn. I instead picture in my mind, the best horses that ever were; standing in the field on the other side of that electric fence. I see the ones in there stalls, relaxing with their beautiful heads reaching out over the stall guards. And maybe Dugene running around loose, as he often did. Farmstead stable will forever be preserved that way to me. A peaceful image in my 12 year old memory.
I hold all of those horses in the most loving memory, whether they perished in the fire or met with a different fate.
Princess, Eugene, Royal, Wildfire, Paint, Simon, Little John,
Mac - Jumping Jack Flash, Happy, Q’ubert, Sugar, Baby,
Blue and his brother, Thomas, Peaches - Peaches and Cream,
Tiny, Luv a Fella, Mr. Goodbar, Walnut - Something Extra.
Phineas - Persnickety, Brownie - Street Talk, Herpes,
Tiny, Luv a Fella, Mr. Goodbar, Walnut - Something Extra.
Phineas - Persnickety, Brownie - Street Talk, Herpes,
Why Not, Dugene, Slick As, ,Toby, Diane - Face Value,
Jody - Espree Sport, Jelly Bean and Thorny
Jody - Espree Sport, Jelly Bean and Thorny
This excerpt was from a Magazine that had interviewed Dr Lee Carhart regarding his practice and his very Public Supreme court Battle - In 1991 the Carharts' farm burned down: Their mobile home, their stables: 21 horses, in addition to a dog and a cat, were killed. The cause of the fire is unknown, though Carhart believes it was arson. (He says he received a letter shortly after the fire linking the horses' death to the abortions he'd performed, but lost it; the official inquiries were inconclusive.)
**Janine Carhart rebuilt in 2001 and started Phoenix Equestrian Center Inc.
The Phoenix, as you know, rises from the ashes...
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