This Place:
On busy road, memorial sprouts for friendly horse
Checkers’ admirers — and her owner — mourn her passing
Leila Navidi
Memorial items for Checkers, the brown-dapple appaloosa owned by Stacy McNamara, still grace the fence of her pasture on Pecos Road more than a month after the beloved equine’s death in late September.
Monday, Nov. 16, 2009 | 2 a.m.
The Stop N Go sold Icees — slushed cherry, frosted cola. After school, when the urge came, Stacy McNamara rode Checkers, her brown-dapple appaloosa, two miles from her house to the minimart at Eastern and Russell.
McNamara always bought two. Checkers didn’t share.
The route that girl and horse once cut through the desert doesn’t exist any more. It has been paved for warehouses and blank industrial buildings. The pasture where Checkers grazed for the past 30 years runs along Pecos Road, just before Sunset, where cars claim five lanes and roadside litter — paper, fast-food cups, plastic scraps — bleaches white.
When Checkers was born, McNamara says, this was all very different. All the neighborhood kids had horses. Now you have to look hard.
McNamara inhales, holds it, looks up, waits. Who wants to stand in the doorway of her childhood home and cry?
The first bouquet popped up two days after Checkers died, wedged into the pasture’s wire fence on Oct. 2. Then the memorial multiplied: wreaths, drawings, cards and small cherub statues woven into the fence.
When McNamara thought the last message had been left, she took it all down. More popped up. Apples dangled from strings. Children left wobbly drawings (“We love you Cekrs”). Letters caught drafts from passing cars, rippled and resettled.
Checkers our loving girl, we miss you greatly. We came by with an apple and you weren’t there. You will always be in our minds.
I told you I would be back with a carrot ... I miss you, buddy. Love, your bud.
Dear Checkers, I never stopped to pet you in all the 20 years I lived here. I hope your owners get another horse so that this won’t be so final.
This is going to be final. McNamara’s parents once cared for five horses at their ranch home on Five Pennies Lane. Now McNamara cares for her parents. Checkers was the family’s last horse.
The neighborhood is now a mix of new and old and halted; empty modern mansions built too late to sell, at least for now. Wayne Newton lives across the street, behind a brick wall. Next door, an unfinished house has sat for months like an experiment in oxidation — the museum of rusted construction equipment and roof tile rot.
Every morning a family member, or friend, walked Checkers from the barn in back to the pasture out front. She didn’t need a lead rope. Checkers just followed.
She had a white strip from nose to forehead that broke up brown and mottled around the eyes. When people came by with apples and carrots, McNamara says, the horse trotted right up. At least until the last few days, when Checkers stayed fixed by a far fence, still as a statue.
Discussion: 4 comments so far…
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Post a comment
Spotlight
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas to close in May
- Pricey land buy on Strip a bit of a surprise
- Engineering marvel taking shape near Hoover Dam
- Harry Reid’s co-writer unloads while discussing polls, Obama quote
- Police: Legal runner returned to home, shot husband and wife
- Grim numbers show Nevada leads nation in suicides over 60
- The 10 best steakhouses in Las Vegas
- UNLV back in the polls: No. 23 in AP, No. 25 in ESPN/USA Today
- MGM Mirage to leave N.J. in dispute over Macau partner
- GOP should blame itself for deficit, not Democrats
Blogs
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Miners sue to block mining tax initiative (3 Comments)
Shark Bytes
Willis reminds me of another great UNLV guard (5 Comments)
Elsewhere
With aggressive push, Internet gambling again in play
The Kats Report
A very quick list of which females could replace Steven Tyler in Aerosmith (18 Comments)
A 3.5-day sprint, highlighted superflously at Flamingo with Las Vegas newcomers
Politics: Ralston's Flash
Horsford: No taxes now, but tax reform later (14 Comments)
Gibbons: Cutting the budget can help me raise money (12 Comments)
Calendar »
- 10 Wed
- 11 Thu
- 12 Fri
- 13 Sat
- 14 Sun
-
Harlem Globetrotters at The Orleans Arena
Orleans Hotel-Casino
-
House of Lounge giveaway at Wasted Space
Wasted Space | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Rakim at LAX
LAX Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Gilley's Casting Call at Treasure Island
Treasure Island Hotel and Casino
-
Freddy B and Mike Remedy at Blush
Blush Boutique Nightclub | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Blushing at Blue Martini
Blue Martini | 8 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati




















Thank you for a beautiful story Abigail. Checkers will be missed.
i didnt even know checkers was sick
This story is just too sweet for words. I have horses and have loved them as long as I can remember so this story really touches a special place in my heart. I can only hope that one of horses brings a fraction of this much joy to others.
What a sad but great story, for you to have such a great equine friend that you were able to share with so many people that shared that same love. If every horse could be be loved half that much we would all be better people for having that experience. My oldest horse will soon be 28 and my wish for her is to know how much she is loved. I too have shared her and my for her and for horses in general with as many people as I possibly can. May the memories stay with you always and may Checkers be as loved in horse heaven as here on earth. Prophetstown, Illinois