It was almost Christmas of 2007 when I can remember unloading a very fuzzy, very round little mare from a trailer that was really meant for goats and not horses. The sun was setting and I was the happiest twelve year old girl in the world because this bossy, yet somehow very sweet, horse was utterly and completely mine. Being twelve, I of course had all the dreams of being able to roam the countryside and compete and just have the time of my life. In a way, I guess I got everything I ever wanted. Her previous owner told us she was a pure Arabian, but he never had the papers to prove it, it was an unlikely scenario that we would ever need the papers to do anything, and honestly I never really thought she was one hundred percent anything. At this point, I think she is mostly Arabian with a bit of Quarter Horse in her somewhere.

When I first brought Lady home I automatically picked up a whole set of Western gear and started riding. She had been a barrel and poles horse and I was in a heavily rodeo-centric community so I didn’t think of doing anything else. But we kept riding and doing tons and tons of groundwork and I always wanted to try jumping and dressage. I actually spent nearly two years without a properly fitting saddle, so of course I rode bareback everywhere. My first jumping experiences were actually without a saddle and in a halter. I had such a safe childhood, can’t you tell? <full blown sarcasm>

Although we never really “made it” at anything in particular, I grew up on this little mare and she will always and forever be my heart horse. We did a bit of endurance for a while, a lot of trail riding, and a bit of everything else. I went off to college for two years and left her on my parents farm to be a pasture puff during that time. After I came back, I had to settle into a totally new life, and then ended up planning a wedding. Even now, my life is all over the place, but I’m finally able to take the time and spend a few hours a week on the farm. I don’t have a lot of plans for us, except to keep her limber and sound. Riding her is my getaway from the real world, so the longer I can keep her around the better. Thankfully I now have a husband who supports my rather expensive and time-consuming hobby, and we’re planning to find our own place in the next year or two, hopefully where I’ll have the space to bring Lady home with me again.