I started volunteering for the Greater New Orleans Therapeutic Riding Center in the Fall of 2006. After Katrina had forced my friend, Judith, to New Mexico with her two Morgans, my own once-a-week therapy session on her fine mare, Chelsea, had abruptly ended.

Judith set me on the road to LaPlace by suggesting “Try volunteering at a therapeutic riding center.” At the time I didn’t know such places existed. One Internet search later, I found the Greater New Orleans Therapeutic Riding Center.

And the next week I met Raj.

He was the first horse I worked with at the riding center. I told the director, Anita Hartzell, that I had some horse experience and she took me at my word, sending me to the small, grey Egyptian Arabian in the first stall.

He was beautiful, quick as a zephyr, a bit aloof, but patient and kind. He did all that I asked him to do, despite my greenhorn fumbling (including accidentally breaking the keeper on his girth). He let me lead him to the arena, and I walked beside him during class. It was the beginning of my love affair with Raj and GNOTRC.

Raj had a hard life before he was donated to GNOTRC. His previous owners had not appreciated the beauty of his speed and agility, as he proved again and again he could not be caught. So Raj, despite his handsome bloodlines, was given away.

But as in many such transactions in life, both sides benefited. His owner got rid of the “problem horse” and GNOTRC received a horse that would prove to be one of the best therapy horses in the business.

I have so many fond memories of him. His patience as we draped him in a pink, zebra-striped slinky hood and matching blanket so Andre (allergic to horse hair) could ride him; students crowding to pet the pretty white horse and his stoic stance as he let them fuss with him; releasing him after class into his pasture and watching the beauty of his action as he cantered effortlessly away to freedom.

I met him when he was already old for a horse and as the years of our association passed, age kept creeping up on both of us.

I got older, heavier and arthritic in my knees and back. Raj also got older and arthritis came to trouble him, too. And, as is common with older horses, he started to grow thinner with each passing year. A few years ago, prior to class, he fell over during his grooming session, scaring the hell out of me and everyone else. His balance was becoming too uncertain for his role as a therapy horse and Anita made the decision to retire him from the program.

And yet he still had a good life in his pasture, perhaps his best time in life, as he got to frolic freely around his pasture mates and play with his favorite mares.

This year, time finally caught up with him. It became clear that at the advanced age of 44, he was wasting away. Consultation with the vet made it clear that it was time. This past Thursday, he was humanely euthanized.

I love all the therapeutic riding horses, but Raj was my first and he will always remain in that special place in my heart.

Godspeed, beautiful boy. You will never be forgotten.

— Mary R. Wismer is a Greater New Orleans Therapeutic Riding Center volunteer.