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You said:

A friend told me that his horse died last week. I said, “Well, that’s a big animal. What did you do with it?” He told me that fortunately he has a backhoe on his tractor, and so he dug a deep hole and used the frontend loader to push the horse into the hole. The only problem was that by the time he got the hole dug, rigor mortis had set in so that its four legs stuck straight out. The horse went into the hole feet first and just stood there with its head poking out.

ChatGPT said:

Here’s what I glean from that story—beyond the humor, which is certainly there.

1. Even the Strongest Things Become Helpless

A horse is a powerful, majestic, almost symbolic creature—strength, speed, loyalty. And yet, in death, it becomes completely dependent on the hands of others.
There’s a quiet reminder here about the dignity and vulnerability we all share, no matter how strong, independent, or capable we are in life.

2. Timing Matters More Than We Think

Rigor mortis is an unyielding, unavoidable reality.
Your friend did everything right, and still the timing turned routine work into unintended slapstick.

Life is filled with moments where we simply didn’t act early enough—or, just as often, no matter what we do, a challenge “sets in” before we can get to it.
The lesson? Address things while they’re still flexible—problems, habits, relationships, conversations.
If you wait too long, they may stiffen.

3. Real Life Has a Sense of Humor

Even solemn or unpleasant tasks can produce moments so ridiculous we couldn’t have scripted them if we tried.
Life’s humor often comes from reality refusing to cooperate with our tidy expectations.

There’s a deeper comfort in that:
If life itself has comedic timing, we don’t always have to take our own missteps so seriously.

4. The Limits of Our Control

Your friend had heavy machinery, enough land, the ability to handle the job himself.
And still—nature had the final word.
A reminder that control is never absolute, even when we feel fully equipped.

5. Doing What Needs to Be Done, Even When It’s Awkward

When something must be taken care of—no matter how strange the circumstances—we find a way.
That’s resilience.
That’s farm life.
That’s adulthood.

6. The Image Sticks With You

A lifeless horse “standing” in a grave because of rigor mortis is an absurdly vivid image, but it’s also metaphorical:

Sometimes problems seem buried but continue to “stick out” because we didn’t—or couldn’t—position them perfectly.
We deal with them anyway.
We laugh when we can.
We learn how to do it better the next time.