I know it is extremely hard for Vela to come here right now, she's sick and heartbroken beyond the ability to express with words. Jake was her rock, her hero. He even saved her life once when, while out riding, they hit an icy ledge, but Jake didn't panic and kept his head and instead of panic and flailing around he was slow and calm and did exactly the right thing to get them both safely down.

I hope she won't mind if I share a few words she expressed to me this morning about Jake.

"The condolences help, but I'm still so torn up. I just miss him so much, and I know when I get there he wont be looking at me over the gate like he always did. He always saw me drive up and always was waiting with pricked ears for me to come get him. I'm just not really sure what to do without him, I love Gent dearly, he's my baby, but Jake was special. He was the horse of a lifetime, and I'll never find another one like him. We did everything, he and I. That horse did it all. We did things, and people would look at me and say "He did WHAT?" Yes, my horse chased buffalo, he scaled mountains, he was the headless horseman's horse, he took me anywhere and saved my butt more than once."

Please keep my friend in your thoughts. And thank you so much for your condolences and caring.

Edited to add a few photos of Jake as the headless horseman's horse on Halloween: