Cape Cod woman's death sparks battle over whether her horse should live

Efforts are underway in a Cape Cod town to save a horse whose owner died after expressing she had wanted the animal buried with her.

Barbara Collins of Sandwich, Massachusetts, had a dying wish to be buried with her beloved horse, Brady — named after longtime Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.

After Collins' death from stomach cancer, that wish is causing controversy.

"She was thinking in the best interest of the horse," said Kathy Booth-frasier, manager of Crescent Moon Farm in Sandwich.

Booth-frasier says Brady is almost 20 years old, has a stifle injury and hasn't been ridden in years. Collins didn't want him passed from owner to owner, since someone could tire of caring for him.

"A horse isn't a dog," Booth-frasier said. "They're more money, more responsibility, and they're 700-pound animals. They can hurt you."

"You gotta do right by the horse," she added. "Sometimes you have to leave your heart at the door."

Allie Hammond, the horse's former owner, is upset at the notion of euthanizing the animal.

"I don't want to see him lose his life," she said. "And I don't think Barbara would, either."

Hammond has Brady's sister, Saphy, at her farm in Rhode Island. She rescued them both when they were yearlings.

"He is such an amazing horse, and giving him up was really hard for me," she said.

When she heard Brady was going to be euthanized, she reached out to State Rep. Steven Xiarhos, a Republican on Cape Cod.

"We're trying to save Brady," Xiarhos said. "I think we can find someone, somewhere, that will, in a way, honor Barbara, and resolve this situation in a positive way."

Brady is paid for at the farm through May 1. His fate from there remains to be seen.

"We don't have the funds, unless someone wants to donate," Booth-frasier said. "If someone can give him a home and a life that he deserves, all for it, but it's got to be a commitment, and it's got to be a written, legal-binding commitment."