But what about Bob?
Has anyone seen Bob?
Bob who? Bob the horse, of course.
Was there ever such a horse as Bob? Standing 18 hands high, Bob ruled over the other horses at Cape May Carriage Company, on Stevens Street.
A horse of distinction in more ways than one, Bob pulled the carriage that Beverly Carr drove in George W. Bush’s 2001 inaugural parade.
But then tragedy befell Bob the next year.
Becky Alexander, who bought Cape May Carriage Co. from Beverly Carr last August, was Bob’s driver for five years. She was driving Bob back to the barn in December of ’02 when a car “slammed” into them from behind throwing Becky from the carriage.
Bob lurched forward, throwing her back into the carriage saving her life. Bob suffered a torn left shoulder and two ligament injuries. Becky insisted on walking Bob back to the barn.
Bob was put on bed rest – so to speak – for two months to see if he could heal properly. He received a series of injections, plus physical therapy and tons of TLC.
He was due to be back on the road in June of 2003 but it turned out he couldn’t even manage to pull the lightest of the two wheel carriages.
They tried again in September when a couple requested Bob to pull their wedding carriage. Pull he did, but his head was bent and he was favoring the healthy shoulder in order to pull the carriage.
So, sadly, Becky decided in July ’04 to retire the 12-year-old, Bob from the farm.
They found a family in Seaville who needed a companion horse for a yearling Starbred and a pony. The only criteria? The horse had to be big. That description fits Bob to a tee.
“I loaded him into the trailer myself and he’s living the happy life now,” said Becky.
Well that’s a happy ending but it wasn’t satisfying enough for CapeMay.com.
We had to find Bob.
Beverly Carr gave us a little hint as to where the Halbruner Farm was and off we went, camera in hand. We arrived shortly before 3 and knocked at the kitchen door. A very nice lady, who turned out to be Dawn Halbruner, answered.
“We’re looking for Bob. Does Bob the horse live here?” We asked.
“Yes, he does.”
“People would like to know what happened to Bob. Do you think we could take some pictures and tell them a little bit about his new family?”
Dawn said yes but not today which was good news to us because the sun had disappeared and we wanted the folks out in cyber space to see Bob at his best.
Next morning we were right back at the Halbruner farm. Bob was tied up and waiting for us. Dawn and her husband John were waiting for us too. They couldn’t be nicer.
The Halbruners have five children – 4 girls, ages 18, 16, 15, and 4 – one son, Jason who is 21 and off at college. And Dawn is three weeks away from delivering another boy.
The two middle girls are riders and Dawn and John let the 4-year-old ride the pony. John never took to horses much until Bob came along. Bob hadn’t been ridden for over two years when he arrived at the Halbruner’s.
“He (John) got right on him. Bob is so gentle. They took to each other right away. That’s how it is with horses. Something just clicks and you know the two personalities will mesh.”
And what about Bob? The pictures tell the story…
Can we just say? What a ham! He pranced and posed. Gave us a little profile to show off his best side. Showed us his favorite scratching tree. And just pretty much said, “Hey. Everything is cool. Look at me. Can it get any better than this?”
