I woke up this morning feeling like an empty skin bag.
I don’t know if I felt worst for Daughter D or myself. Yesterday when DD hugged her big Belgian horse Sweetums she said, “I don’t want to give up everything to move to Hawaii.”
Someone agreed to take her two horses Sweetums and Dante. I didn’t ask her to leave them behind when we move, but when I decided to leave my two horses, she thought it made sense to leave hers as well.
She said, “This gives us permission to part with them.”
By afternoon the lady who agreed to take Sweetums and Dante also agreed to take my two horses. It’s a relief. I made the decision to part with them. I’m glad we found someone. Still I feel sad.
This lady, whom I haven’t met yet, lives 40 miles from the coast on 64 acres. She is a horse trainer who often rescues horses and finds homes for them. She has another big draft horse, also aged, who will be a buddy for Sweetums. She said her grandkids can play with Dante.
It sounds as though she would like to keep Velvet, my AQHA Quarter horse, for herself. At first she was going to give her to a girl who had a barn and pasture but not the money for a horse. I thought that sounded perfect, but if she wants Velvet that’s okay with me. Velvet needs a nice gentle trainer to turn her into an awesome riding horse. (I hope this person is gentle as my Velvet is a sensitive lady.)
Some of my non-horsey friends think a Quarter horse is one quarter of a horse, meaning small. They aren’t. Most Quarter Horses are big muscular athletic horses. In the early days of this country cowboys used their cow-ponies during the week to herd the cattle. On the weekends, for sport, they would have races. Those horses became known as the fastest horse for one quarter of a mile. Thus the name Quarter Horse.
Quarter horses are the ones you see cutting cattle, roping steers, barrel racing, reining, spinning, or screeching to a halt so fast it throws your stomach into your nose. Sometimes they are used in other disciplines such as Dressage. One of the horse actors in movie, The Black Stallion was a Quarter horse. They have beautiful broad hips which gives them “rear-wheel drive.” They usually hold their head low as that gives them leverage for the task at hand. That rear-wheel drive gives them strength and the agility to out-maneuver a steer. On a cutting horse, unless the rider relaxes into the horse and lets it do the job, the rider can be all over that horse in a matter of seconds, under its belly, on top of its head, hanging on its neck—it isn’t pretty.
And then there is the mustang. Can you believe in the 8 years I've had Sierra she had never had her feet trimmed? The Farrier looks at them and says, “I’m glad all my horses aren’t like that. She takes care of her own feet.”
Tonight when I said, “Hi Guys,” and I heard the resultant whinnies. My heart strings twanged.
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