Melinda Domine and the ride for Aiden

By Justin Tiemeyer - Contributing Writer

18 April 2025

On Friday, April 4, 2025, two women were seen riding horses through Lowell.

Those two women were Melinda Domine and her friend, Amber Crystal, the horses were Captain and Nuri, and this horse ride had a purpose.

“My oldest son passed away from SIDS nine years ago,” Domine said. “Every year on his birthday, I decided that I was going to do a memorial ride for him.”

Domine’s son, Aiden, was born on Monday, April 4, 2016, and he passed away just short of two months later on Tuesday, May 24, 2016.

The acronym SIDS stands for sudden infant death syndrome, a disease, for lack of a better term, where babies pass away for no apparent reason.

“He died in my arms,” Domine said. “He went to sleep, and he just never woke up. People don’t talk about it a lot.”

Domine has always been an equestrian, and she has always loved horses. To Domine, Aiden was “My Little Cowboy.”

“In his short life, I took him to Florida, and I’d never seen the ocean before, but I’d seen the ocean with him. We’d seen dolphins, the only time I’d ever seen dolphins,” Domine said, “and I was able to take him on one little horseback ride in his short life.”

Though Aiden had only a few weeks on the outside, Domine spent months with Aiden in utero before he was born, and she rode with him during her entire pregnancy until she was too big to do so.

Domine explained that some find horse riding, while pregnant, controversial, but her doctor approved of it since she was so accustomed to riding. She doubts he would have approved if she were just learning.

“I wouldn’t do four or five hours like I did in Lowell,” Domine said. “I would just do a couple laps around the arena, just enough to say I rode today.”

A month after Aiden passed, Domine felt called to ride in his honor, then again after six months, then nine months. “I’m riding for you today. I’m riding for you today,” she would say. “That’s what helped me get through it.”

Domine lives in Orleans, and Aiden is buried in a cemetery in Belding. When she first committed to a yearly ride in Aiden’s honor, she rode from one side of Belding to the other where the cemetery was located.

“The first year it was cold, cold, cold. It rained and snowed, and we still went out there,” Domine said. “It was almost like the skies were crying for us.”

On Tuesday, April 30, 2024, Domine took a solo ride through Lowell, and she was blown away by the reaction. She had never experienced anything like the welcome she felt riding through town, so she decided to do her 2025 memorial ride through Lowell.

“Afterwards, we go to the cemetery and have cupcakes with him,” Domine said. “Instead of it being a sad day, I try to make it a good day.”

Riding through Lowell, Domine was met with smiles, waves, and thumbs up. Afterwards, people shared photos on Facebook.

“We’re out there, and we’re putting smiles on other people’s faces,” Domine said. “When you can make someone else smile, it just makes you feel good inside. I had someone reach out to me and tell me they were having such a terrible day, and they saw us riding, and it turned their whole day around. And I’m helping myself, as well.”

Moreover, Domine has given Aiden a legacy after mere weeks of life that it takes some people decades, a century even, to accomplish. Aiden is now associated with the smiles of an entire community.

“When we ride, and if people ask us, we tell them the story and how I lost him and just put a little bit of awareness out there,” Domine said. “I think it happens more than what people talk about.”

The highlight of the 2025 memorial ride for Domine was riding her horse into Tractor Supply and seeing the employees waving her inside with smiles on their faces. It is not uncommon to see a dog in Tractor Supply, and some people make a holiday out of chick season, but that day, shoppers saw two horses with riders. It is difficult to imagine not smiling upon seeing such a sight.

Since Aiden’s passing, Domine gave birth to another son, and Mason, now five, has shown interest in joining his mother on her yearly ride with his horse, Pepper. This year, school got in the way, and it would be a lot to take such a young guy on such a long ride through town, but soon. Mason can honor his older brother soon.

“I really enjoyed riding down here, how everyone was,” Domine said. “It was just a really, really good experience in Lowell.