Today (6/28/2004) I am burying Bint Maru, Dokhailan's grand-daughter, (Abu Maru X Bint Dokhailan) Bint Maru was foaled 2/19/1974 at Anderson Arabians in Colton, California. I bought her from Merrie Anderson, 18 years ago. My horseshoer, the late Bob Ward, said that Bint Maru had the most beautiful gaits and way of going of any horse he shod. Bint Maru gave birth to a colt, Mea Gracioso, who is still living, and who brought new interest and respect to Arabs in Hawaii (previously pretty much dismissed). He is famous, on Oahu, for being ridden by his owner in bridle-less jumping demonstrations and for winning the All-round Horse Hawaii horse category (jumping, english, etc) one year, in competition with horses of all breeds. Bint Maru's other offspring is her bay daughter, Cavallina Dolcezza, who has lived all her life with me and kept her mother company till the last. I will be breeding Dolcezza to a handsome, gentle racing thoroughbred later this year.

Bint Maru got her picture in The Arabian Horse World magazine once. I took her through the Pat Parelli training and then submitted an article to AHW entitled, "Passive Persistence Prevails with a Purebred in Paradise," describing how I used the Parelli techniques to get her to load easily into a trailer.

Bint Maru was sound except for a little arthritis which was managed with a half tab of bute each evening. We had no indications of impending trouble last night. She ate eagerly last night, including her Sunday night bran mash, and received her nightly kiss on the nose.

We never talked about how old Bint Maru was. I was a little surprised when I got out her registration this morning that she was over 30. One day when the vet came out to one of the other horses, he asked, how old is she? My shoer, an astute, young man who is paying his way through college, said, we don't talk about that. I used to say she was forever twenty.

Bint Maru was by no means an easy horse to ride or handle. She was definitely high-strung. I was never bothered by others wanting to ride her. She had a lifelong habit of drawing her lips into a snarl and even faking a charge at someone when someone irritated her. It was a habit that bluffed a great many people. When she snarled at me, as she sometimes did when I acted irreverently, I would kiss her on the nose and tell her to remember who loved her. My husband says she snarled at him yesterday, so he knew she was okay.

She did not give her trust easily, but once you had it, you could always ask her to help you, even when it involved tending a painful injury or freeing her from a fence. I considered her my mother, my sister and my daughter.

If anyone out there is in contact with Merrie Anderson, (of the former Anderson Arabians in Colton, CA), I would so like to tell her that the beautiful mare she sent to me here in Hawaii so many years ago, has finally gone to her rest and that Bint Maru had such a good and happy life and brought me so much happiness.

Sorry to be so lengthy but I think the connections through the generations of horses and the stories from owner to owner connect those of us who love horses and the Arabian breed.

Liz Martinez