Fun From the Past

8/19/24

Hope you enjoy these fun memories of mine… from almost 50 years of experiences. Sadly I don’t have pictures of my past horses… but if I come across them I’ll post some pics.

 I had an Appy mare who had maybe 20 tail hairs. (AKA: rat tail) My riding students thought it would be better for her to have a tail for swishing flies. I said ok when I saw the plan. Those kids worked and fussed over an hour to attach the’tail’. Keisha was so good at being patient. Of course, I had to come and see her after they were done.  “ see, Miss Kris?  It’s a delightful tail!”

 Keisha had been sprayed with fly deterrent so she wasn’t swishing that tail. She kept pulling it out of their hands. 

 When they took her out into the yard, she started swishing and then she started to freak out. She started turning around in circles trying to see what was wrong with her tail! Seemed like Keisha had never seen herself with a long tail before, especially one made from a bright orange kitchen towel…

                  

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I have to share this with you…  This little guy was 11 years old and he had just had a birthday, As one of his birthday presents from his parents, he was given horse riding lessons. When he arrived for his first lesson he told me that he loved horses and that he would be a great student for me.

Everything went smoothly with him learning to groom my ancient Appaloosa mare, Alli. Joey was cooing sweetly to her as he curried her spotted coat.

Joey gave Alli kisses and hugs too . It was clear to me that he truly loved horses, especially my mare.  I enjoyed watching him getting to be more comfortable around Alli  (short for All the Best)  She would turn her head around and nuzzle his little chubby tummy and Joey would just laugh.

We were all done with the first ride lesson and he couldn’t wait for the next week to get here.

Later that evening his mom called me and explained that by the time they got home, Joey was sneezing and had runny eyes… allergies.  She said that he was crying because he didn’t want to stop riding lessons. We both felt awful.

His mom said that she would send him next time with some allergy medicine and see if that helped. 

The day arrived for Joey’s second lesson …. He gets out of the car and comes running to the barn yelling “ I’m here, Miss Kris!” 

He was full of energy and smiles. Reaching in his pocket he told me that he had a treat for Alli.That he and his mom had made it. Apparently she had been thinking about safe treats for horses. He had it in a little box with Alli’s name on it It was so sweet to see him open it and show it to me and Alli. I showed him how to safely give a horse a treat and he was thrilled. 

‘ her lips are very soft and she is so polite’

That  lesson we didn’t have grooming  because of the dust and dander.  He seemed to be doing better Later that day my phone rang again. Joey had been sneezing and coughing since he got home… His mom said that he was in tears again. He didn’t want to stop… He would be okay, honest he would. Mom didn’t agree.So Joey was going to have to stop being around horses.  I could hear him in the background, sniffling. She said that he was going to make something for me and Alli, and that they would drop it off when he was done.

 Later that week I was called to be outside at a certain time because Joey had finished his creation. I was at the barn when they arrived. As usual, Joe came running to the barn, this time with his mom. 

He handed me a flat piece of cardboard that he had wrapped in Christmas paper. He was a little bit embarrassed because it was all he could find. I opened it up gently and inside was a watercolor painting of a little chubby blonde boy giving a spotted horse a kiss on the nose.It was all I could do to not cry… he was standing there beaming at me with tears in his eyes too. We all exchanged hugs and he looked for his favorite horse, only to find she was out in the pasture.  I told him to go call for her… see if she wanted to see him. While he was off doing that, his mom explained that he had worked on the painting until way past his before. They had gone to the store and picked out a frame that was the right size, and she had brought it along if I wanted it.  When we got to the car, we saw Joey and he was snuggling with his best friend. She truly was All the Best that day. 

I put the painting in the frame and it hung in my tack room ever since.

❤️😘💖💕💓💗❤️