Never Stop Loving

If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you know I love my cats. What you may not know, is I’m also a huge horse lover.

I was a pre-schooler when I got my first pony. That ended poorly. The pony died shortly after my dad brought him home (worms, I believe). Eight years later, my persistence in asking for a new pony paid off with Dad taking me out to buy a beautiful 1/2 Arab Pinto.

I loved that horse. And the Quarter Horse that replaced him. And the others that came to join the herd on our hobby farm. Eventually, I bought a registered half-Arab half-Quarter horse mare, known as a Quarab. She was a spunky thing, and beautiful. Possessed all the preferred features of her combined breeds.

Dished face. Solid rump. Dainty legs. Strong-will. I bred her to a pure-bred Arab stallion owned by the parents of my then-boyfriend. The following year, I married the boyfriend, and my mare foaled a colt. He was beautiful, not only physically, but temperamentally. Nothing like his moody dam. I trained him in Halter. He did very well his first year out the gate, taking High-Point-Reserve Champion in his 1/2 Arab Halter category. I ended up selling him, and and his brother that was born the following year, when I found myself a working mother of two children, short on time. I sold the mare a couple of years after that, when I found myself a single working mother still short on time, and even shorter on money for horses.

Me, showing my colt in the late 1980s

A few years later, after I remarried and my second husband and I moved to acreage, I bought an Arabian mare and her two-year-old son. I hadn’t had them very long, when we discovered our then one-year-old son had a severe allergy to horse hair. Severe enough, I sold the horses. But I never stopped loving them, or wanting to own one again.

Our son is still allergic, and still living at home as he completes his University education. However, he is an adult and rarely home. So, I’m looking into fulfilling my love of horses by finding room for one not only in my heart, but my life, through owning and boarding out, or simply offering stable/yard help in exchange for riding privileges. I can bring a change of clothes, and wash my riding gear at a laundromat, so my son shouldn’t suffer for my love affair with horses…*fingers crossed*. I mean, how can you not love this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMmK8lFWEeI

Deborah

There are no rules. Just follow your heart.

Robin Williams


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