And These Are The Horses Of My Life...........From Champ Forward to the Future.....

Welcome to the continuing saga of The Horses Of My Life.....if you've missed the first two installments click here and here to get caught up.

In October of 2000, Champ came into my life and I've had a few horses after him, all the while never letting him go.

First I had Faith, a rescued Arab mare that had more than a few screws loose. It wasn't her fault, she'd just been abused one too many times and it had scarred her.  She was a gorgeous Egyptian bred mare, little but lovely.  I sold her to a wonderful woman who had her free lunging around her within 5 minutes of meeting her.  I have tons of pictures of this gorgeous mare, but they are all on the little square disks and I can't get them off! 

Then there was Dolly, an App mare I bought because I thought maybe I could get The Man to ride with me. Dolly tossed me off over her head the first time I rode her out of the pasture, and struck the clippers out of my hand the first time I got close to her so she went back to her old owner.  I can handle fear, but fear that manifests itself in aggression isn't acceptable at my house.

 Honey was the neighbor's mare who was older than Methuselah (late 20's) and I brought her to my house to rehab her and get some weight on her.



Honey and The Youngun before she decided she was afraid of heights and didn't want to ride.



She was a Three Bars bred quarter horse who was an angel of an old mare and I was able to get her back into pretty decent shape. She was the first horse I ever sat on in an English saddle and I enjoyed riding her. The only reason I gave her back to the neighbor was because we moved and I could only take Champ with me. Getting rid of him was not an option!

Champ, winter of 2009

When we moved down here to get closer to The Man's work, we bought a house in town so I had to board Champ. I actually enjoyed it because I worked at the barn and was there all day long while The Youngun was in kindergarten. I was in horse lovin' heaven and I learned SO much at that barn. After I'd been there for right at a year, I bought a yearling named Boss.

Camptown Boss

 Oh how I loved that boy! He was a draft cross and I did all his training myself. After living in the house in town for right at a year, things fell apart at the barn (way too much to get into in this long post) and The Man decided it was time to buy land again, so I could have the horses at home. We all three missed having a garden and such, as this was the first time we'd lived in town. We bought the place we have now and moved the horses home. I had always wanted to train my own horse, and having Boss was amazing. I did all of his training myself and we got along great.



Boss was a natural jumper, if he could get his head over it, he'd go over it!

He was a big boy and really beautiful. I started him under saddle very lightly at 3 and then started him more at 4. Things were going well until we decided to trot. He put his head down between his front legs and went to stiff-legged buckin'. That took me right back to my childhood and scared me.

Boss and I during another brief slim period in my life.

Boss, one of the first few times I was on him.

I can do rearing, I can do spooking, but bucking is my undoing. I kept up with his ground training, but was at a stand still with the under saddle stuff. I tried to get my old trainer to help me, but he wouldn't take him on unless he was broke; walk, trot, canter. Duh..if he was at that point, I could take back over!! 

Boss and Champ together

 Anyway, he turned 5 and I decided it wasn't fair to him for me to be holding him back and I sold him. He is in St. Louis somewhere competing in Hunter/Jumper, which is what he was born to do. I have moments where I regret selling him, but I've never regretted buying him. That big flashy boy taught me so much about training and trust and I'm thankful to have known him.

Boss and I

I have to confess that I really enjoy having only one horse.  That way I don't feel as if I'm neglecting one or the other, and I'm not torn between two.  Champ has Tulip and Star (the goat girls) to keep him company and I spend a lot of time with him.

After all of these negative experiences, you'd think the love would have flickered and died in me, but it is as strong now as it was at 3, probably stronger because now I know how wonderful it can be.  I look forward to carefully selecting my new partner when Champ is gone, because he has taught me how wonderful the bond between the right horse and rider can be!

God Bless....................