My Girl, Miss America

Tomorrow, July 13th, I will have had my beautiful mare for two months! What a ride! I first met her one evening after I had first moved to Hoopeston. My fiancee' drove me out to a feed lot where four mares lazily walked through the ankle-deep mud across the pen to snack on a round bale of hay that had been dropped right outside their pen, which was roped off with fenceposts and cables. He had come to show me the horses because I hadn't pet one in a few months, and after spending most of my life working with harness racers, I was starting to yearn just to interact with a horse again. There was a super-looking Paint mare in the herd, but when I saw a nondescript brown mare's kind eyes thanking me for tossing the hay in a little closer to her, I told my fiancee' I wanted THAT one. He had been coming to see them for over a month now, on his lunch breaks, and though it was cold out, I made my way over there frequently as well. Well, he met the owner, a month went by- now we own our very own horse, Missy!
We didn't know (or care) if we would ever ride her, we had no idea what color she truly was underneath all that unshed winter coat- we just knew that she was ours forever.

And what a difference in just two months. Missy gets grain twice a day, groomed at least once a day, her own stall at night, a field during the day, her hooves trimmed regularly, and she gets RIDDEN EVERY DAY. Afterward, while she's cooling out, we turn her LOOSE in the farm owner's yard, surrounded by cornfields, and she is free to graze for a long while as we put away equipment and clean her stall, if it has not been done already.

It's funny, because we truly thought we were rescuing Missy from a neglectful situation, but she has rescued us in so many ways! I am never nervous about riding her, or handling her. Well, she still doesn't let us pick up the right hind, but for the last TWO days, we have been able to pick up and clean out her left hind for the first time! Whenever we think we are making BIG progress with her, I think she laughs at us because she's like, "Well, DUUHH, I COULD'VE done that all along!" I don't care. It feels good to get all excited about our FIRST trail ride, our FIRST few steps at riding her canter (that was Tuesday), and even our FIRST time we could clean out a back hoof.

For us, the last two years have been a mess, full of not-so-good choices and trusting untrustworthy people, and now that we have Missy, our lives have been turned around and we are blessed in so many ways that we could not name them all. Life isn't easy, but when you know that you have a terrific mare like Missy, it's like living on a cloud. Hardly a day goes by when we have driven home from the farm without huge smiles on our faces. Riding that lovely mare just brings joy to our hearts and complete satisfaction in every way imaginable. I wish everyone could have a forever horse like Missy.