O’Neill: Laying Trap to rest

Casey O’Neill is a farmer and owner of Happy Day Farms in Laytonville, Calif. The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mendocino Voice. If you’d like to write your own column for The Mendocino Voice, send your idea to info@mendovoice.com.

We buried our horse under smoky skies on an August afternoon, sweat mixing with tears as we said our goodbyes. Trap lived at the ranch for the thirty years of his life, an iconic part of the Bell Springs landscape, his brown coloring matching with the faded visage of the 100-year-old barn he lived in. I remember Jeep the horse, Trap’s predecessor from when we were little kids, but I can’t place the point when Trap replaced Jeep. It has been too long, and maybe I was already beginning to fly from the mountain as a teenager.