'Turf' Shaw R.I.P

[Donagh]

Beloved Turf: Neighborhood horse was near-celebrity
By Judy Wakefield
Staff Writer

His obituary hangs on a paddock fence at Wildwood Nurseries,where neighborhood kids have added dozens of sympathy cards, flowers and colorful drawings.

The one they called "Turf" was clearly a neighborhood icon, and many neighbors loved to visit him. Over the years, numerous moms had pushed strollers to his home so their kids could feed carrots and apples to him.

Turf was a horse. A very, very popular horse.

"Turf will be missed terribly by everyone who loved him," said neighbor Kristina Trott. "He was such a beloved neighborhood fixture."

Turf liked visitors of all ages. One elderly neighbor visited often with special muffins made with his favorite, Empire apples. She also bought him a 25-pound bag of his favorite mints with explicit orders for her family to make sure Turf got the bag when she was too sick to deliver it.

"He loved people and knew when certain visitors were coming...The elderly neighbor used to come with those muffins and mints and he would go to that corner and wait," Judy Shaw said of her family's horse. "He just knew she was coming."

The Shaws' pretty white farm stands out in the neighborhood and has been a must-go destination for anyone in search of simpler times. Turf had a wonderful life, and enjoyed his status in the neighborhood, but was being bothered by a few different ailments, Shaw said. Turf had to be euthanized on April 23.

"He just loved people and was very gentle and affectionate. He loved to nuzzle and loved to be hugged," Shaw said. "One time I was vacuuming my pool on a Sunday morning for an hour and I counted 14 people stopping by to pet him."

Trott is an artist who was commissioned by the Shaw family to draw a portrait of Turf last year and happily obliged.

"Turf will be missed terribly by everyone who knew him," Trott said. "The Shaw family has lost a gentle friend of 31 years."

Born at Wildwood Nurseries, at the corner of Wildwood and Holt roads in south Andover, Turf was a townie — he spent his whole life in Andover.

Named "Wildwood Turf" when he was born on April 12, 1977, he grew to be a strong 15-feet-two-inch (in hands) chestnut gelding and was very affectionate. He was the last of the Shaw family's seven pet horses and ponies who had lived on the property over the years.

For his first 25 years, Turf would get his exercise by running at a track in Hamilton, Shaw said. For the past couple of years as aging slowed him down, his trainer would walk him in Harold Parker State Forest and around the neighborhood.

Several week's after his death, Turf's obituary continues to hang on his fence as Shaw said the "Turf tributes" are still coming in. She's laminating the notes and drawings so they hold up in the rain. Eventually, she will most likely make a Turf tribute scrapbook.
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