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My Dear Old Horse; Tell me your stories
Topic Started: May 17 2007, 05:45 AM (401 Views)
DairyQueen2049
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DRAGON BREATH. DRAGGIN' BUTT
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Please tell us a story about your old horse - what they do to endear themselves to you now that they are/were old and retired. Tell about their life after retirement and how they aged. And if you like how they passed to the Bridge.

Tell me your love story. :hug:


I met my Rita as a filly at her mama's side. I was supposed to be looking at a broodmare that could not conceive as my 1st riding horse. I was 14, and a broodmare was not my idea of a great ride.

Rita and her mom were in the broody field and as my cousin (old, wizer and horse trainer) chatted about a colt he was interested in I crawled in the fence to introduce myself to this little chestnut cutie. We played for an hour and suddenly were noticed by the owner who of course feared for my life and health.

I saw Rita 10 more times - each time we went to see another horse for me, I begged to stop and see her. Cousin and owner refused to sell me the baby. Green on Green = Black and blue!

Then winter was coming and the owner called my mom - mom thought 'female, and they will grow up together and it will be years before riding = safety for daughter'.

When cousin, mom and I went to load her in the trailer, owner handed me the leadrope "she is yours, you must begin to teach her" (uhhhm, she'd never been loaded or halter broke) she reared 2x and then followed me in. I got to ride with her to the barn. We bonded like only kids and horses can.

28 yrs later I was at her leadrope when her legs were failing and health was wanning. We gave her a gentle peaceful release, and she was calm because I was there. She took care of me and I took care of her.

She was a lot safer then anyone thought - she never hurt me in the thousands of miles we rode and played. She was gentle with children and animals of all sorts. She was always the lowest horse on the totem pole, but she had a love of life and adventure like none other.

She had the biggest walk stride I've ever seen or ridden. And it would solve a backache in a mile or less.

She had attitude to burn - she loved to be first in a line of horses and she loved to leave them in the dust at a walk even.

Rita gave 110% everyday. She was never cranky, never crabby. She lived her life with zest and verve.

Some of our photos are here:
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/dairyqueen20...n2049/my_photos

RIP Rita. I miss you every day. :candle:
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MissBri
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But, I don't care - it's 5:00 somewhere
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Ah DQ that was beautiful!

Your Rita sounds alot like my Bri - she'll turn 24 on May 28th and is still going strong although semi retired. Then I saw your photo's of Rita - gosh Rita and Bri have a lot of the same markings - matching white hind socks, the diamond with a trace of a strip.

I'll see what I can toss together for Bri
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MissBri
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But, I don't care - it's 5:00 somewhere
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OK....

I bought Bri in Utero - so didn't know what I would be getting - just that 'it' would be by an Arab out of an old style Morgan. What I was blessed with was a gorgeous liver chestnut filly with a big star, a kissing snip, and two matching hind socks. :clap:
She's been my best friend, my partner, my weeping cloth, but most importantly, my sunshine for nigh on 24 years. She's been in all kinds of facilities over the years, from really rough old timer trail barns to the upper echcalon Morgan show barns, and EVERYTHING in between. She's a grand old lady - kinda like a Katherine Hepburn - looks a little small and delicate, but made of steel with a bit of temper and wit. A princess pony.
I moved her home to my back yard in the late summer of 1994.

Here's a quick narrative I wrote last spring after a trail ride - enjoy (excuse the roughness)...

Springs First Ride


I went for what was supposed to be just a quick 20 to 30 min trail ride on Sunday. We haven't really been out all winter so I didn't want to overface the old bones (hers and mine!). So I popped on bareback after trying to strip off as much of her loose hair as possible and off we went. As we hit the open field I felt her gather herself up, get round as a ball, a couple of staccato dance steps, and a snort and a blow. We started as a nice, round, very much on the haunches, canter. Then she started to lengthen, but was still round. WOOOOO! The hind hoofs kissed the clouds, she flattened out, and away we flew! Silly old mare - give me a clue! Back to a trot, then a walk as we left the field and entered the soft silence of the forest. The canopy of pines blocks out most of the sunshine, but errant rays dance and flicker where they filter through the bare oaks and maples. The paths are cushioned with a thick bed of old pine needles muffling our hoofbeats. The earthy smell of spring is faintly perfuming the air.

Onto the dirt road, over the gravel culverts. She's feeling frisky and wants to go. We canter along the straight away, then pick up speed as we near the curvy hill. She digs in, snorts, and powers up the hill, around the bend, a quick sideways spook at a phantom in a boulder, then slows down, all puffed up and so proud of herself. We continue on just walking and listening. As we turn off the road onto the back hill trail she suddenly stops. Plants her feet, raises her head - high alert, high alert! A few steps forward, a blow and a snort. Bri tosses her head, then still at alert she proceeds forward again. Stops, whips her head to the right, a deer bounds across our path and vanishes into the dense growth. OK I'm thinking, that was the cause of the alert. WRONG! She is still telling me something is here. Flips her head, takes a few steps, then stands at red-mare alert again. Around the bend come the riders from the farm below. I wave them by, we exchange a few pleasantries, and go off on our separate ways. Down we travel, the hill is steep here and the footing uncertain. She gingerly picks her way, I'm trying my best to keep from sliding forward (don't forget I'm bareback). Finally make it to the foot of the hill - whew. We decide to skirt the cornfield now lying fallow. See lots of signs of deer and a few coyote tracks in the soft dirt. I miss the tiny cut thru to the road a few times, then finally find it. Emerging onto the abandoned back road we pick up a nice, soft, swinging trot, then branch off onto another old farm trail. Ah this old trail has been improved! The face whipping branches have been pruned back, the mud wallows filled with crushed stone/gravel, and the rusted remains of an old truck or tractor engine have been pushed well off the trail. Guess I should call it a road or farm track now. Up on the knoll we overlook the middle cornfield. Passing by, we head toward the north trail.

A very large pine has blown down at the head of the trail. What to do now? Hmm we may be able to get by over there - Bri shakes her head and starts to trot heading straight for the fallen tree. Now this is a good four foot spread, and probably about three feet high - I'm bareback remember, she's only 15H and coming 23. Forget it Bri - Oh SHOOT - I'm just going along for the ride. She gathers herself, sets back, raises her front, and launches! WHEEEEEE!!!! She did it! She did it!! WOW! As I remember to start breathing again, she arches herself up and snorts, then relaxes and walks along like it was nothing. We saunter along about another quarter mile, then I slide off and we just hang around for fifteen minutes. Finding a log I pop back up. No other way to go but the way we came in. So back to the fallen pine - this time we daintily pick our way to the tip and pip-pop over. We stay to the far edge of the cornfield, going all the way around back to the trail with the knoll. As the trail widens to the 'new' farm track we pick up a trot, just relaxing. The trot lengthens into that good old trail trot as we near the abandoned road intersection. OK now, Please, I need to walk! She slows down, complying with my request.

I see from the tracks in the dirt the other riders have already passed by on their return trip. We turn off the road and head on up the steep hill. She digs in her hind end as she scales the slope. Emerging back onto the upper dirt road we walk along, enjoying each other and this wonderful day. As the road starts dipping down Bri picks up a trot. OK I'm still bareback, now my muscles are getting tired, and I start slipping, slipping, slipping to the left. I try to correct myself just as Bri tries to help by shifting to the left. TOO MUCH, now I'm slipping, slipping to the right. No hope of recovery now....Bri stops as I complete my unscheduled dismount. Touches me with her nose and waits for me to get up on my feet. I figured a walk would do me good about now, so we just ambled down the dirt road side by side, my arm slung over her neck. About a half mile I climbed on a rock and back onto her back. She reaches back and nuzzles my leg as if to say 'you sure you're going to stay there this time?' We make our way back home without futher incident. I grabbed a cold beer, and gave her a well deserved rubdown and brushing. Our 20-30 min easy trail ride had turned into a three hour 'adventure'.

God I love this mare!


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Fish Cheeks
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You're BANNED!
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Gosh I love your stories - they choke me up!

I haven't had the lifelong horse that y'all have had. I've had two old-timers who I got late in life (theirs).

The first was Monty, aka Old Man. He was the Best Old Man That Ever Ever Was and I lost him this winter to colic. :no: He was a "gift with purchase" with our little farmette. Old, lame, and skinny. Bottom of the totem pole. When he passed, he was older, still lame, and still at the bottom of the totem pole, but I like to think that his last years were his best. He was healthy, happy, shiny, well-fed, and loved. He taught Mr. Fishy how to groom, how to lead, how to feed, how to work around horses. He was a babysitter when I'd take Miles or Paddy away for a trail ride. He could be home by himself and not get worked up. And he loved peppermints and carrot cake cupcakes that Mr. Fishy made for a horsey birthday party. Here's my favorite picture of him - I only had him for 2.5 years.

Posted Image

My current old man is Skip, since nicknamed "Pip" or "Pippa". He was abandoned in our county and picked up by animal control. They thought :brickwall: that someone would come claim him, so they just left him on the trailer FOR A WHOLE WEEKEND. IN AUGUST! :brickwall: A fellow volunteer from the shelter took him to her farm and kept him there...no one ever claimed him. When I lost my Old Man, she offered me Skip and I took him home right away. He was skinny, had some rain rot (still working on that!), and was afraid to load in the trailer or walk into the barn. He can't eat hay because he's missing some teeth, so he quids and I make him an alfalfa pellet/rice bran mash 4x/day. He's now got a nice bloom to his coat, has put on some nice weight and seems happy. Even though he's quite lame (ringbone), he races me every morning as I'm driving up the driveway. He'll stand, untied or haltered, in the pasture so I can groom him, and follows me around while I'm driving the tractor. He's always got a nicker for me and he seems to enjoy his life! He's very good at his job, which is to be a babysitter to Miles/Paddy if I take one out on the trails, yet he can be alone and not fuss. He's a great old pony and I loff him! This is the day he came home

Posted Image

I love the old guys and have always wanted to have a retirement home! :hug:
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DairyQueen2049
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DRAGON BREATH. DRAGGIN' BUTT
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Aww Fishy!! :hug:

I wuv these stories!! :wub:
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horseless no more
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Magical Leopluridon
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what beautiful stories.. somehow I managed to miss this thread before...brain going in way to many directions I guess..

anyway my ol wench mare I do miss her a lot. she came into my life with a bit of age on her think she was 12 maybe 13 so not out of prime of life yet but now a green as grass either... She also came into my life when I needed her the most. Long story short. My family had moved just after my 6th grade yr from Ohio to Calif. I hated almost every minute thre. Though I did meet dh there but at the time boys were somewhere between yucky and intresting.. so he was a 'nerd' and really weird or so the eyes of a 13 yogirl would say. Anyway I had just begun to like it in that miserable place when my parents announced that we were moving back to Ohio(I was thrilled but yet sad but hoping it wold be in Columbus where 'home' was). Dad and mom didnt say aything on location of Ohio but they did promise me a horse.. so I was skipping and bouncing off walls the last 3 weeks of school. On our return trip we went through the old neighborhood and my hope got up when we stopped at a kitty corner neighbors I actaully though my parents hdad bought our old home I had not worked out where promised horse would be kept in the city in my brain.. But on to the Chagrin Falls area we went.

It took about 4 or 5 mths of hard searching for a horse who's price was with in range of my parents parameters and with in their parameters of distance.( I tell ya it was the best geo. lesson of Ohio I ever had). so finally I find an advert that said "12yo AQHA mare, brown, price negoatable. then the phone number.. It was perhaps10 miles away so well with in the distance parameters. and the 'price was right' as that (negoiating was what did did for living) dear ol dad could have some fun I guess.

so I call make arrangements to go see this beast when dad's working hrs would allow. and we trot off to see this horse. the person brings out this very fat, lazy look, lower lip hanging like the 'oh geesh here we go again bored look..
I hop on her using hte persons saddle while she and dad talk. I of course knew what I was doing because I had oooo maybe 6 lessons under my belt..

I fall in love the moment she goes into a trot that I did not recieve either an arobic work out to get there or becomming almost a lawn dart.. as the other horses I had tried were like.

I tell dad she is the one. yeah she will need some work cuz she is fat and out of shape( she had been standing in a field for last 5 yrs with an occasional trail ride)..

So he got owners name and number and "asking price" which IIRC correctly was right about 2000$.. Dad was in his ellement he negoiated the price to 750$..
She arrived "home" about a week later.

I became in instant lawn dart for the first month or so. Everyday she would come up with new and creative way to remove me from saddle, as she would attemp what she had done the day before and it didnt work. I guess because of these I learned how to stick in saddle.

So the adventure started. We worked our collective asses off to get her in shape and to get her to actually listen and do what she was told not what she wanted. Evetually she came around to her new job and apparently enjoied it to a point. The point to where she could come up with new and exciting ways to remove me from saddle and bout 75% of the time she accomplished it. But we clicked for the most part she would 'put on the aris' of being oh so much better than any other horse in the ring... Unless of course she decided to be the wench we knew she could be... But dayum she could do a extention that could put a warmblood to shame. That little mare could jump when she had the mind to... And her mind could change in NY minute. More than once she would feel like she was going to go over the jump and slam on breaks at the abslute last nano second... which is why if you look closely you can see every jump in the Chagrin Valley imprinted on my forehead.

We went up to 1st level in dressage and AO's. But at home she was known to clear 6' not bad for a horse who got to 15.2 with shoes and pads on.

Dispite her attitude when I stopped showing her out of the almost 300 ribbons decorating my bdrm walls only 4 were below a 3rd.

When I gave her to the people who had a lease on her (I gave myself a bday present of one last ride) before signing her papers over to them she performed as thought I was never gone. and the people along with their trainer stood along the side of the arena and said " ya know we had heard abot the magic bond between you two but until today did not understand. We have never been able to get this mare to do what you just asked her to do." So I told them our secrets... From what I heard a yr or so later the horse and the girl were cleaning up in what ever division they were in. where as before I told them they were lucky to recieve the hanger...

When I moved back to Ohio after dh got out of the Navy I went to the Equine affaire in columbus and the AQHA was there and they ran a search on her name. For their records because of some sort of if a hore hits a certian age and noone has told them other wise the horse is concidered dead. I cried for 3 days after that...

Yeah she was a wench, yeah she could easily break land speed records when she had the mind to, but when she wanted to she could beat the best trained most expensive horse in the ring.

she taught me a lot she taught me how to stay in saddle no matter what the horse pulled under me. She taught me how not to get that :unsure: :jaw: :brickwall:
:o :argh: look on my face no matter what the horse under me did.. After all unless the horse actually flipped over onto me it was nothing I had not experianced before...

Silly little horse that noone thought would amount to much in the show ring...I do miss her attitude, her willingness when she wanted to, he last nano second stops and usualy ending up crawling over the jump. when she was good she was ery good but when she was bad she was almost unrideable.. and I loved every second of the 'please switch horses ' test in Eq.. noone knew her cues..the wench.. ;)




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Casey1
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Magical Leopluridon
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I grew up in a house where my parents did not support the horses. At age 14 I was working off lessons, they wouldn't pay anymore. I was fortunate that I rode at a fantastic stable and the people there supported me. I was always "given" a horse to ride, usually a sale horse and I would get it going well, looking good and then....good bye. It broke my heart EVERYTIME

One day a horse came in the barn for sale for a specific customer. His name was Casey, and he had a reputation as big as life. My trainer was out of town so the customer who Casey came for could not ride him. She was leaving for vacation in CA before the trainer returned. So guess who got to ride Casey...ME! He was the most amazing horse I had ever sat on. He was 15 yrs, solid black with a big white star, only 15.2 and the biggest mane and tail I had ever seen. Not to mention his wonderfully warm HUGE brown eyes. He was the first horse I rode that had an auto change. Not a good mover but he would jump a 10 every time from any distance.

The customer returned from CA to announce she was not buying a horse, she was moving to CA. She didn't even want to sit on Casey. So I continued riding him and I vowed to myself I was not going to let myself fall in love and be hurt again. I was so tired of crying my eyes out over something I was never going to have. After one particular lesson, it was good, my trainer said to me "he would be the perfect horse for you". He had never said that before, he knew my situation. I started crying on the spot, swearing at him saying how could he, he knew I was NEVER going to get a horse. He then said "you have a job earning your own money now" with that the tears stopped.

The people selling Casey thought he was done (old and past his prime) my trainers had known him as a young horse and that is why he was sent to them. When my trainers told the seller they had a buyer but she doesn't have money but he will stay here, they said they would take $800 for him. I had my first horse!

Casey is by far the nicest horse I have had the pleasure to be around, and I have been around some VERY nice horses. He was an extremely expensive horse back in the 60's. We won a lot of amateur owner hunter classes, and end of year awards. I was champion on him at Lake Placid in the AA's at 21 having not shown in 5 years (I stupidly sold him but I bought him back), won an open hunter (3'6")class at Fairfield against horses preparing for indoors (still 21). He lived a good life until he was 32. His last show he was about 26 or 27 he had soundness issues, the fences were small. He still won! I needed to do it one more time and he loved it. I still remember riding him how it felt, he was so very special. I always thought he must be a cult leader. If only the good die young, why did he get to be a very old man? Everyone who ever came in contact with him fell hopelessly in love. He would do that. Even my parents turned a corner when I bought him, they were finally interested in how I did at shows, even showed up to watch once or twice. That never happened before or since, only with Casey. George Morris, Paul Valliere, and Micheal Page all complemented me on what a nice horse he was. He was my world.

Thank You Casey for being a part of my life! I miss you and think of you often.
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MissBri
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But, I don't care - it's 5:00 somewhere
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These are great - but we need MORE!
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DairyQueen2049
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DRAGON BREATH. DRAGGIN' BUTT
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Yes! Please add your old horse stories!

Casey1 - wow! Sounds like he was a one of a kind. :hug:

hnm - every time you stick on a horse you have that oldster to thanks. :hug:
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DropTheGloves
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My guy turned 24 this month. I've had him for 12 years, my parents bought him a month after my 11th birthday. I had spent 3 years riding at a local riding school on ponies and when we went to see him the owner led him out of the stall and I was like <3 <3 <3 love at first sight! He stood 16.3h and was a beautiful copper chestnut, no white.

For whatever reason he chose me to be "his". We've done alot together; hunters, eq, jumpers, dressage, barrel racing, pole bending, trail riding. He took me from the 2' long stirrup to schooling 4' jumper courses and I have a wall full of ribbons.

What I love the most though is his personality. His attitude. He can be very arrogant and prissy. He loves to strut up and down the fence line and squeal and kick up a front leg at the geldings in the neighboring pasture.

He is the best teacher I've ever had. Even now he's STILL teaching me. He had a pretty serious injury about 2 years ago and I was told he would never be sound again, but he did return to soundness. Now we mostly hack around and pop over the odd jump and trail ride. I'm fortunate enough to be able to keep him next to my house and take care of him myself.

The only thing I'd like to change about him is I'd like for him to be more affectionate. The only time I can really "love" on him is when he's sedated!!



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