Jim Andreson...

            tribute to a breeder and a friend






















Our lives are a journey on a road that leads us to where we are meant to travel; not always tho the way we choose.  On this road there are many crossroads, roads of others that we meet along the way.  Those that we meet only for an instant and then those that travel along side that of our own.  And then there are those roads for which we wish we had longer to travel alongside….today I stand at one such crossroad and watch as a dear friend and mentor travels a road that I cannot share. 

A man I met only last year and yet it seems that I knew him all my life; but it seems hardly any time at all to realize it.  He was a man wise beyond this lifetime, a creator of perfection, a mentor that none can match.  One only needed to walk the pastures of his farm to realize that he had found the formula to create what we all as breeders strive for.  His gracious and quiet nature bestowed upon me some of this wisdom that I will forever carry forward to the next generation.  A man that gave what he knew without question, without looking for anything in return and patiently answered my never ending questions about bloodlines and pedigrees.  Jim was a man who endured more than many will know but never once let this slow him down or deter him in the direction that he was meant to go. 

Sometimes it seems Fate is not fair…it seems only a minute ago I found this friend, a wonderful man with knowledge of Russian horses beyond any I know.  Now it seems that I must travel with his memories, a short few months that have been a whirlwind of learning, lessons and dreams are leading to a road that only his memory will keep my direction.  I have been honored to have shared his life if only for a fleeting flash in this lifetime…tho this time has changed me for the entirety of the road I have left to travel.

I feel so selfish to wish he remained here with us longer, and know in my heart that the creator was only fair in taking him away from his mortal constraints.  I will hold on with heart and soul to that which he has bestowed upon me, those lessons, that time and knowledge.  I will embrace the spirit that he leaves behind, in his wonderful friends and horses and continue on where he has directed my road to go. 

Today he leaves this earth on the back of a winged Russian horse, but tomorrow and always I will watch for him in the nicker of a mare to her newborn foal.  I am so privileged to have known you my friend,  miss you intensely already and am determined to insure that your life and legacy will live on through us all.

 

"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares."
~ Henri Nouwen, Out of Solitude