It's been four months since I have been able to realize a dream come true: to own my own horse.
It probably sounds very silly to some people; check that --- I'm sure it sounds very silly to some people. Why would I want to adopt a horse? Was I going to compete with him?
Those who have known me since I was a little girl are not at all surprised by this adoption. I have loved horses for as long as I (literally) can remember. I remember being given my first Breyer horse for my fourth birthday (it was the grazing palomino foal), and the first movie I can ever remember seeing in a theatre was The Black Stallion. It's been almost thirty-five years since then, but I remember every moment in that theatre, and I remember being reluctant to leave as the credits rolled and Alec Ramsay, with his brave stallion, ran up and down the beach with a gorgeous rainbow in the sky behind them.
Through my parents' goodness, I was able to begin riding when I was almost eleven years old, and that solidified it for me. Horses really were as wonderful as they looked! And so I took lessons, and lead trail rides, and cleaned stalls, and groomed and bathed the horses, and fell in love with all of them, although only one or two really captured my heart, as only those very special horses can. As I grew up, I saved up money to ride, and then, in my late twenties, I took lessons in English and jumping. I loved it, the speed, the trust factor between me and the horse I was riding, even when I was tossed to the ground when my horse refused a fence.
Then, life got in the way. Work dominated the majority of my time, and riding and jumping faded away into the background.
Two years ago, I moved away from the Buffalo city line and out to the country, in Pendleton. With nearly an acre of land behind my house, I began to think that maybe, someday, I could actually own my own horse. This past December, the dream began to come true.
Enter Willie, aka African Sovereign, a purebred Thoroughbred who never raced. He was signed over to the SPCA in a neglect case, as he had been starved. The SPCA had done a wonderful job with him in half a year's time, bringing him back from around 1000 lbs, to 1300. But little was known about his training and riding experience. Because of that, I've started from the beginning with Will, emphasizing a positive relationship and some basic groundwork exercises.
At this point, I'm thrilled to relate that Will is loving life. He is being boarded at a private family farm in Wilson, NY, and has two large pastures to graze, run, and roll in all day long. He has made it through one of the coldest and snowiest winters we've ever had in the Western New York area without so much as a shiver! Now that the weather is beginning to warm up, he has been enjoying the sun and the longer days outside. He has also done extremely well with longing and basic groundwork, and I'm hopeful that we can begin riding in the next couple of months.
I'm so thankful to have Will in my life! Please stay tuned to this blog as I document Will's adventures in his new home. It will definitely be an adventure!
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