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About a year and a half ago, I was looking through the Want Ads in one of our local papers, when I came across an Ad for a 13 yr old palomino mare. The man was asking a bit much for a grade mare, but wrote that she was quiet and gentle and had been broke to ride and drive. One of our boarders at the time was looking for a fairly quiet horse, so I gave the Ad to him. He didn't follow it up.
A few months later, a man phoned, asking to speak to Art or Les, regarding a horse he had for sale. He said that since he had his major heart surgery,and was unable to care for her anymore, he wanted the mare to go to a good home. Well, Les got on the phone, talked to the man, and when he came back into the barn, he told me that he'd bought a horse, a palomino mare.
Curious, I asked him if that was the one that had been advertised, in the Buy and Sell Ad, and he said that it was. I told him that the price was fairly high, when the man had advertised her in the paper. Les told me that he would gladly pay that price. That's when I knew that Les had bought Blonde Lady, his horse, Blazer's, mother! This was exciting news, as Les had been trying to buy Blaze's mom for a couple of years, and the man didn't want to part with her, in fact, he wanted to buy Blazer back. (Of course, Les didn't want to part with Blazer).
When we went to get Lady, we were in for a surprise. The man wouldn't sell her unless we took his pony, too. This little pony was a 2 year old stud, as yet, nippy, pushy, brave and very inquisitive, as well as protective of Lady (his mare). He was quite unusual looking, as he was black, with blue eyes! Enchanting. He also had his own harem of one (which he was leting everyone know was His harem).
I had met Lady back in 1994, when Blazer was a 2 year old. The two horses had been sent to Art's ranch to be broke to saddle and harness. She was a pretty cremello mare, with a palomino color to her body and a creamy mane and tail.
My first sight of her at this man's place was a shock. She had a ratty-looking, butter-yellow coat. Her mane was in tangles, as was her tail, and her feet were in dire need of a trim. She also had those dull "I don't care what happens to me anymore" eyes.
I approached her quietly, as she seemed a bit shy, and let her sniff me, and breathe in my face. Then, I began to pet her on the neck and talked quietly to her about how beautiful she was. I told her that we were going to take her away from there, to a better place. I stood and scratched her neck and chest, and then quietly, one by one, picked up her feet to have a look at the soles. Thank heavens for small mercies, her feet were overgrown, but there was no evidence of founder! She was so patient, I was afraid for a moment that maybe the spark was gone from her, the will to live. So, while Les got the truck and trailer into the yard, I just stood and spoke soothingly to her, all the while scratching her neck.
When it was time to load up, I started to walk toward the gate to get a lead shank and halter, and to my surprise, this mare put her head over my right shoulder and we walked cheek-to-cheek to the gate. She stopped when I stopped, to open the gate, but her message was clear to me: "you're not leaving here without me." (By this time, one of Les's friends was trying to load the pony into the trailer, and having little success, he,(the pony) wasn't going anywhere away from his mare without a fight.
When Lady saw the trailer, she perked up, (I like to think that she remembered that trailer and knew then that she was going to a good place). While Bob continued to try to lure the pony into the trailer with sweet feed, Lady, standing at my right shoulder, began to lean towards the trailer, and showed signs of actually wanting to get on! I asked Bob to let me try with Lady, figuring that the pony would likely follow her into the trailer, not wanting to be left behind. I asked Lady to come up the ramp with me, and she nearly flew into the trailer! The pony practically dragged Bob in, as soon as I got Lady on and tied in.
When we reached home, we unloaded Lady and the pony (who I had decided to name "Scooter"). The strangest thing happened then. Lady, whinnied loudly, you know the: "are there other horses here?" and "where are you?" whinnies. And from the pasture, came an answering, urgent whinny, and Blazer, her son, (who had spent the first 2 1/2 years of his life with her at the other place), came flying in from pasture, howling all the way! (In the wild, mothers kick the colts off when they wean them, and then don't necessarily even seem to recognize them again). This was Incredible! A mother and child reunion. It "warmed the cockles of my heart", as they say.
We discovered, shortly after Lady returned, that she had very few stall manners, though she had been taught well here at the ranch when she and Blazer were here in 1994. We also discovered, to our dismay, that she no longer neck-reined, had few manners under saddle, and had the heaves. She wintered well, and began to muscle up while I rode her and taught her manners under saddle and on the ground.
Last summer, her first summer with us, her coat began to shine again, the Art Butler way of feeding,(Les and I follow the "Old School" way as Art did). A recipe of good clean feed and lots of good pasture did the trick. (It also helped to give her shots of ventolin up her nose on occasions when it was very humid or dusty).
I started using her as a lesson horse, and she soon became a favorite of our students. But, this mare is deceptive. She is, like her son, one of the fastest horses on the place, when she wants to run (and she frequently wants to run). She has a temper, like her son, manageable, but don't push it. She does not crib, nip, bite or kick, and loves to be groomed. She is very good with traffic, almost bombproof, (although, like most of our horses, she doesn't like skidoos). In fact, aside from being a little cinchy, she's almost the perfect horse for a beginner rider.
When he saw her, our boarder, who I had passed the Ad on to, was quite philosophical about it. He felt that she should stay right here, where she is happy, with her son, and well looked after. And you know something? I think he's right.
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