My favorite story to hear when I was a little girl was the one about my love for horses! My mom would always tell me about the first time they put me on our horse Snowflake when I was around 2 years old. I would cry and have a meltdown anytime they would take me off of his back. A few years after that we lost him to cancer and every year I would ask for a horse for either my birthday or Christmas. My parents made me a promise that if I still showed interest and responsibility when I turned 10 then we could look for my perfect pony! Of course you can imagine my excitement!
First horse of my own was a 15.2hh Morgan named Jax! Tall, dark and handsome fella..hence the name Jax, short for Black Jack. Even though he was as sweet as pie and followed me around like a puppy, he loved to use his strength as an advantage over me while I was in the saddle. Needless to say my mom thought I needed something…smaller. Ya know, something I could “control” and more “my size”. Boy was she wrong. His name was Spirit and was my new little paint pony! Black and white, 13hh with a very fluffy mane and forelock. I was in the dirt as much as I was in the saddle! In the long run that little paint pony taught me a lot..not just how to brush off and climb back on. With those two still in the pasture our next find turned out to be my perfect match. With Mom realizing size doesn’t matter I now had a 16hh Appaloosa named Nickle. He was my best friend and we explored many miles together! With Nickle being so tall he definitely taught me patience and hard work. It didn’t matter if I had to get off 20 times on the trail just to tighten my saddle I looked forward to it everyday!
Here I am years later and I still keep my pasture full and have the same passion as I did on my 10th birthday! I now have three of the most handsome geldings that I hope teach my sons the same lessons I learned from horses.