Komel Customs was originally created in honor of Komel. But who was Komel? Komel was my first horse. At the time I worked for a lady who bred and raised Arabian horses. This lady heard about a lesson horse at a university that was being given away. I had always wanted a horse, and this lady thought this mare would be a wonderful first horse for me. Along with two other people we went to the university and picked up this mare. She was a 19 year old registered Arabian mare who was slightly under weight and not much to look at. We were told she had ovarian cysts and occassionally acted "studdy". Once home she settled in about as quickly as I warmed up to her. It didn't take long before I started riding her, in the pastures, the round pen, on trails, where ever I could. She was so well behaved I was even able to ride her bareback with only a halter. Over the months she gained a bit of a weight and started looking and acting better. Despite what I was told she rarely acted like a stud. A few months shy of our one year anniversary Komel started to have trouble with colic. One night it was so serious my employer and I ended up taking her to an equine hospital about an hour and a half away. She was ultrasounded and x-rayed, but nothing turned up. The veterinarian who oversaw her treatment stated that she was most likely impacted and we should change her diet. She was brought back home, her diet was changed, and everything seemed to go well. During the next month Komel started to act increasingly studdy, then started to colic. Once again  she was rushed to the equine hospital. As with the first time they couldn't find anything obviously wrong with her, but because of her behavior I asked to have her ovaries removed. When the veterinarian opened her up to remove her ovaries he did not find ovarian cysts. Instead he found a football-sized tumor on her kidney and spleen. Sadly the tumor was so large he could not even attempt to remove it, and had he tried Komel would have likely bled to death right on the operating table. Her ovaries were still removed and biopsied and found to be completely normal. After Komel recovered from the surgery she was brought back home. In attempts to treat the tumor through nutrition Komel was put on various herbal supplements and nutritional regimes. Within a month Komel started to colic again. On October 22, 2002 Komel started to colic worse than she did ever before. She was in visible pain, laid down and did not want to get up. Even though we attempted to get her up and keep her moving while the vet was on his way she could not do it. She was in so much pain that when she laid down she did not even attempt to roll over. When the vet arrived there was nothing he could do to help her. That evening Komel was put to sleep under a pepper tree. I sat with her while she breathed her last, and sat with her for several hours afterwards. My employer told me she watched a red-tailed hawk land in the tree above us as Komel was leaving this earth, and watched the hawk stay in the tree until I finally left Komel. Even to this day I cry when I think about Komel's last day. I cherish the happy memories I have of her in the short time we were together. Through Komel Customs I hope to be able to bring back to life those dearly loved and missed equine friends. I also hope to keep alive the equine friends we currently share our lives with, and to bring to life those dream equines we wished we could know.  Komel will be forever missed, and may she rest in peace. These two pictures were taken the first day I met Komel:              The following pictures were taken during the year Komel and I were together: