Dead Horses

The saddest thing I think That I ever saw Was a little buckskin pony Mourning from her stall The mama lay beside the fence Under a tarp out in the rain Peeking from the plastic Was her honey-colored mane I sat down on a water trough Wrung my hands and cried, "Suppose we're all just animals With slightly different hides" I never got used to watching horses die They die badly, it has kept me up at night I never got used to watching horses die Count my pretty ponies When I greet the morning light The horses got to running On one cooling summer day Feeling fine and frisky Till a hole got in the way The bossmare tore her shoulder Her stance was at a tilt Now she's softly sleeping under The green alfalfa quilt Graddy Preweitt took his Bobcat And buried her for me The dead wagon must turn around How happy I should be I never got used to watching horses die They die badly, it has kept me up at night I never got used to watching horses die Count my pretty ponies When I greet the morning light Wild horses are in excess Herds are growing by the day The once prized domestic pet Ain't worth the price of hay They've been turned out on to strip mines Get to starving once it's snowed They'll wander off the mountain top To lick salt off of the roads This little girl inside me Is chomping at the bit She cannot save them all A truth hard to admit I never got used to watching horses die They die badly, it has kept me up at night I never got used to watching horses die Count my pretty ponies When I greet the morning light I never got used to watching horses die Count my pretty ponies When I greet the morning light