The first horse I remember helping pick out was Honeybee. She was a beautiful Palomino. She was a pleasure to ride! I had her until I was in college. When we sold her, I got a mare that we called Nancy. I ran barrels on her until I traded her for another mare we called Blackie, also a barrel horse.
The horse I got that I first learned how to team rope on was Big Mo. Tommy wanted me to learn to rope. He bought him for me. Big Mo was a TANK & perfect to teach someone that knew nothing about roping. When he got old enough to retire, we traded him & I got another rope horse we called Mad Dog (he was branded with my initials, thus the name). When we sold him, I rode a horse named Yeller that belonged to some friends of ours. There were a couple of other questionable purchases that didn't last long.
Probably the "once in a lifetime" horse I had was next. He was a tall, lanky roan horse that Cori dubbed MACARONI PONY. He had a stomach ulcer that was diagnosed on Christmas Eve one year. We had to go to the grocery store & buy all the Maalox they had on their shelf to doctor him until we could get it ordered by the gallon from the vet. Anytime we brought another horse into our barn or did anything out of the normal schedule, his ulcer would flare up & we'd have to give him Maalox before he could eat. He was safe to put any kid on & was also a great head horse. I always said when something happened to him, we'd have him stuffed in our living room because I couldn't imagine life without him. However, after he was past his roping years, we sold him to a family with children who were wanting to learn to ride.
The next horse we bought was Uno. He has been at our house for the last 7 years. I've loved roping on him, but he was getting enough age on him that I knew I should begin to look for something a little younger.
We heard from a friend about a young man that was looking for a horse that he could learn to rope on. He & his family came out today to try him. We knew as soon as he got on him, that he was leaving our house today. I've never seen an 8th grade boy smile any bigger.
It's a bittersweet day. I know that Uno has gone to a GREAT home, but it's kinda strange going to sleep tonight, knowing that there isn't a horse in the barn tonight that is MINE!
Winston Churchill once said, "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man". We are believers in that philosophy.
Author Gary Paulsen wrote a book called My life in dog years. If you haven't read it, you should. Each chapter tells the story of a dog that he had during his lifetime. I guess I'll call this blog post My life in horse years. Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks, I'll start a new chapter.
