Thursday, May 22, 2008

A girl and her pony

Meet Fuzzy. We used to not let Jayden ride when she was really little as all we had were colts. Once I got a nice quiet mare she refused to ride. I was sure I'd ruined her on horses for good. Her dad was tickled...less mouths to feed, tack to buy, farrier work to be done, you get the idea. But recently she has started asking for a pony. Ponies are an endangered species in New Mexico, even rotten ponies. So we forgot about it for awhile and stocked her up on bright pink and purple riding gear (an obvious barrel racer in the making) to keep her occupied. Then a couple weeks ago, someone donated 2 horses to the ranch. Lifelong companions, one a team roping horse, the other...Fuzzy. A 27 yr. old "gummer" mare who really I'm sure thought her riding days were over. But that she's needing some specialized care, we offered to do that for her, took her off welfare and asked Jayden if she'd like to have her own horse. Jayden laid eyes on her and it was love at first sight. She wanted to ride her as soon as she could get into the corral. That smile hasn't left her face. She's caught the bug. She loves Fuzzy. She thinks this old toothless mare is the greatest horse there ever was. It chokes me up to see her busting with pride telling everyone she meets about her Fuzzy. Wants to ride her morning and night and makes sure we're feeding her correctly and when it's time to go inside for the evening, always tells her "Goodnight Fuzzy...I love you."