  We study finite temperature properties of a generic spin-orbital model
relevant to transition metal compounds, having coupled quantum Heisenberg-spin
and Ising-orbital degrees of freedom. The model system undergoes a phase
transition, consistent with that of a 2D Ising model, to an orbitally ordered
state at a temperature set by short-range magnetic order. At low temperatures
the orbital degrees of freedom freeze-out and the model maps on to a quantum
Heisenberg model. The onset of orbital excitations causes a rapid scrambling of
the spin spectral weight away from coherent spin-waves, which leads to a sharp
increase in uniform magnetic susceptibility just below the phase transition,
reminiscent of the observed behavior in the Fe-pnictide materials.
