All the Horses We Used To Have

                              ~Pepper~

                                    ~Mick ~                                               ~Chance ~

             

   

                                ~Bill on Shadow~                                              ~Domino ~

                                         ~Jake~                                                             ~Buddy~

                                          ~Twister~                                                     ~Joe~      

                  ~Cherokee~                                                               ~Patches~

            ~Cinnamon~                      ~Gypsy~                               ~Sunshine~

             ~Dusty~                                                      ~Abendago~

 Joan on ~Star~ (my first ride)                   Joan and the ~Bandit~

We bought Blaze and Big Guy in Spring of 2006.  Patches was added February of 2007.   Unbeknown to us, she was expecting a foal when we bought her.   

 In June, 2007 we added a fourth horse, a pretty sorrel we named Cinnamon who was traded to our granddaughter, Lacie, in December. 

And then in July, 2007, we traded two other horses we'd bought for one that we could actually ride named Cherokee.   And on September 1st, 2007, we had a new baby named Bandit.  We sure enjoyed him.  And what a cutie.  One interesting little quirk about Bandit - he has one blue eye like his mama and one brown eye like "who knows".  Kind of unusual to have two different colored eyes, but he sure does. 

However, winter of 2008 hit, we were feeding 5 horses, riding very seldom, so decided that we needed to pare back the "herd".  We sold Cherokee, Patches, and Bandit to Cowboy Closet in Poteau who are always needing good horses to resell.  We miss those three but it is much easier keeping up with 2 rather than 5. 

Bill used to ride when he was a kid, but hadn't been on a horse in about 40 years when he got started back.  I only rode a few times in my entire life until May of 2006, but I decided if he could go out riding, so could I.  

I tried two or three other horses before getting Blaze, but he definitely was the best choice for me.  He seemed to understand my considerable lack of horseback riding expertise, and took me off on adventures in spite of it all.   If you  look closely at his picture above, you'll see him wearing my birthday present.  Yep, a black bridle with Montana Silver conchos.  He looked so-o-o pretty!  Birthday of 2009 I got silver bits, so he was really fancy.  Now Domino will get to use them!!

Well, the end of the horse story for us was the middle of June.  We sold both Shadow and Domino to a family up north of Spiro, OK. so we are no longer in the horse business.  Even sold my saddle, bridle, blanket, and breast collar. It was fun while it lasted, but the comfort level was never the same for either of us after Big Guy and Blaze.  We always knew how they would react in any situation, and unfortunately, we never got to ride enough to get that same comfort level with any of the others who followed them. 

So now Bill spends his time fishing, and cleaning up the yard around the house, and working on all those little projects that never seem to end.  Loved the horses but this time it's "Adios".  Probably going to sell the property where the barn is, too.  BUT, of course, that is our FAVORITE fishing spot, so someone will have to want it worse than we do for us to sell! 

As you probably read on the Getaway Lake page, this wasn't QUITE the end to our "horsing around".  Chance came in to our lives in March of 2012 and it didn't take long for us to realize that he was waaaaaay more horse than either of us could handle.  We sold him to a couple who train horses and work at the race track up in the Tulsa area.  Don't know if he'll make a race horse, but the man wants to use him to do ponying and pickup work, so maybe having a "real" job will be more to Chance's liking.   AND, having an owner who actually knows how to handle him.   And, then we found Mick.  Bill thought he was going to be just the horse to get him back riding again, but, alas, that was not to be.  He decided that he just really didn't need to be riding anymore.  So, we found him a good home with a family that still does ride and I'm sure that he'll have a good home. 

So, we're down to one horse.  You can see her on the Getaway Lake page.