Having raised five children - Steve, Scott, Nikki, Christyn, and Tom - been an office manager and a lot of stress in my life plus approaching an age that I felt was life as I knew it was over - 50 - Wasn't that silly. I had a breakdown of sorts. Could not make a decision even to live for the life of me. Bob asked what he could do to help me get my bearings back. Guess what. It was a horse. Tikki was a red roan appaloosa. She was just what I needed. We rode many miles up hills and down. On a ride along a trail, I found barrels set up in a little field. I started out to trot then barrels. At least I started at a trot when she took off like a rocket. She knew the pattern. I got it, she had been a barrel horse.
I had a dream about having a horse to show and because Tikki had been a gaming horse and did not want to go slow around the arena, just fast around the barrels, I sold her to a young woman who needed a friend. Then.....along came Ditto whose registered name is Cuttin Loose. She was the most beautiful paint horse. I did start to show. She and I accomplished wonderful things. She was high point paint horse in Washington State Horsemen several times. She is still out in our pasture and is 28 years old. The is grey around her muzzle but still full of energy unless she thinks you are going to ride her and then she drags around. Funny girl.
There were several horses I had after I retired Ditto. Mel - Mellow Gold - who was a palomino appy with a blanket, Sunny - can't remember her registered name - who was a red dun quarter horse., Dun in Glory -Glory- who was a minimal white paint. They all came and went because they could not meet Ditto's standard. Rosie - Wild Rose- came for our grandkids. I drove her in a cart. She is an awesome 13 hand pony. Bob has used her to pack in the back country, pull logs around, she totes around grandkids and just loves to be loved on. She is a bay and white pinto with half her face white and half dark. "She will also live out her life here. I think she is about 19.
The how we came to have primarily mustangs and Peppers story will be for another day.
Amazing what horses can do and how they can keep us sane!
ReplyDelete