Tomorrow is a big day for me - I've sold my gelding Jackson to a great junior rider at my barn. We are meeting tomorrow morning to sign over his registration papers and hopefully get my hands on some cash.
I took a big loss on this horse, both time wise and financially. I won't go into it here, but it was mostly my fault for not knowing enough. I'm very lucky that he is going to stay at my barn with a great little rider. I know he will be loved and well looked after. Money isn't everything.
So, I am technically horse-less at the moment. That may change soon, but I'll get into my horse search in another post.
A few days ago I was digging through some old photo albums and found a few pictures of me with the horses I had when I was young and carefree, so I thought I would post them here for a bit of nostalgia. I loved both horses and have wonderful memories of trail riding through the forest and galloping through corn fields on both of them.
I got my first large pony when I was 12. Her name was Tar - real creative eh? :-) She was a 14.2hh Appaloosa/Welsh pony cross. She was built like a tank and never lame in the six years that I owned her. Luckily I'm quite short, so I never really outgrew her. She was a bit much for me to handle when I first got her, but luckily I worked through it and my parents didn't catch on that she was alot to handle. I went on long trail rides with this girl, through creeks, rivers, giant mud puddles and all sorts of stuff. On some trail rides my friend and I would make our own trails, laughing like maniacs trying not to get knocked off our saddles by tree branches. What a good girl she was. She wasn't fast or particularly pretty, but we also did 4-H shows and parades together for a couple of years as well.
When I was 14, a friend's Mom who coached me a bit decided that I needed a bit fancier horse to do more showing with. My parent's didn't have a lot of money, so a free horse was found for me. It was one of those friend-of-a-friend situations - a lady had bought an arabian gelding and was too inexperienced for him - so he ended up with a horse-crazy 14 year old girl! I was beyond thrilled. This handsome bay was delivered to my house - I thought I was dreaming - and he was free! His name was Pharley - again not too creative, but it suited him somehow. We went to an english barn and learned to do some basic dressage. We went to a few shows that summer - please ignore my bad posture in the picture! I had a lot of fun that summer, working at a proper barn and learning lots.
I ended up keeping both horses until I was 18. I somewhat foolishly (upon looking back) decided to go away to university and had to sell both horses. That was tough - to this day I'm not sure why I did that. Oh well - it is in the past...
There is a lot more to this story - some of it was too painful to write about, even almost 20 years later... So I'll just wrap up this looonnnnggg post and move on.
5 comments:
It's hard to find horse buyers now-a-days, so you are fortunate to have found a good home for him. I think we all take financial losses (not to mention emotional losses) when we sell horses. Whatever we put into their feed, hoof care, veterinary care, training, etc. over the years adds up. You can't exactly tack that onto the price that you paid and add a little for profit.
You were also fortunate to have horses while growing up. I think a lot of women get into buying their first horse in their 30's and 40's because their parents would not let them have a horse when they were young.
Congrats on the sale! You'll find a new "kid" when the time is right. Who knows, maybe Mr. App is the one. :)
Loved the pics, I thought Tar was a cutie.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading a bit about your early horse ownership experiences.
You are so lucky to have had horses of your own when you were so young. I'm sort of envious in a good way. I dreamed every day that, on my birthdays, my own horse would be waiting outside my window with a bright red ribbon around it's neck. sigh.
It was not to be. I just bought my first horse a few months ago at age 41. I probably would have bought one sooner, but kids and finances made horse ownership take a back seat....way back.
You are also lucky that you found someone so nice and willing to buy your current horse, too. And that she will keep him in your barn. That's a rare thing to happen for sure.
I suppose we all just have to accept that horses just aren't typically a good investment, and that if we can just make sure they find a home where they will live a good life, then it will all be worth it.
Good luck with your new horse search. Can't wait to see which horse chooses you.
Your past reminds me a lot of my own horsey past! It was weird selling my horse and going to college. Looking back, I think I was so into next phase in my life, I didn't really think about it. Now thinking back, I wished I would have known about college rodeo programs....anyway, it's a good thing we found our way back though, isn't it?
OMG, I love Tar, what a neck-I love it! and Pharely has a GORGOUS head...
I'm glad you'll be able to still see your guy...
I think we've all given up horses that we wish now we hadn't:-( so hugs, I know how it feels.
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