When I was in college we were asked to write progress journals in Breaking and Training 1 (which... honestly, I didn't.. whoops) about the development and training of our wards. I'm going to live on the dangerous side here and break that unspoken law that you never actually USE what you learned in college for real life (I'm certain everyone knows exactly what I'm talking about here... 'WHEN am I gonna use this?! I'm never going to have to do that in real life!' Well... joke's on me this time.). Starting this public journal about our journey together is a way for me to document what's going on in her life, mine, and perhaps indulge the creative (albeit somewhat masochistic) side of me that loves to write.
Our fortuitous meeting
Stumbling upon this mare happened to be a complete accident. A friend had sent me her ad on Craigslist, exclaiming 'This is perfect for you, go after her!'. Being the oh-so-savvy (haha... yeah... about that...) equine enthusiast that I am, I immediately shied away from the ad. Craigslist... oh, the stories about horses on Craigslist. "He's well broke to ride!" Sure... as in broken from poll to pastern. "Needs experienced/timid rider." Uh huh... she bolts and shies at her own shadow, doesn't she? "Not marish at all!" Sure... when she's not in flaming heat... which just happens to be every time another horse walks by; mare, gelding, or stallion. You get the picture. I don't have a great attitude about the pony personal ad. Now, I know this can be said for every place horses are sold, but I've noticed a distinct abundance of it in the Farm and Garden section of Craigslist. Having had personal (rather negative) experience with this in the past, my first gut reaction was an immediate and indiscriminate NO. I'm not in a place currently to own a horse anyway. We haven't even gone to see the first of the farms that we are interested in, and here I am pondering the possibility of horse-ownership? No. Can't happen.
Fate has a sense of humor... and other plans for me it seems.
Since moving to Florida in late September to pursue my equine dream (buying a farm and becoming a professional... EEK) I've had little to do but sit and wait. Wait, wait, wait. Consequently I have started trying to find more creative ways to keep myself entertained, as my list of 'books waiting to be read' is growing perilously short (I do believe I put away 12 books in this 8 week period), and the computer I have currently procured is less-than-desirable for gaming. My son goes to school during the weekdays, and besides keeping the house clean behind four dogs, three cats, a child, and two adults (a riotous nightmare inside a 1300 square foot home on the best of days), there is little to do. Bored one rainy afternoon, I decided to go to one of the commonplace equine sale websites and peruse pictures of my favorite breed (Hanoverians) in my particularly favorite color (grey). Favoring mares, I also added this restriction to my search, as well as limiting the ads to only those that had pictures (Logical, right? I like to think so). Off I went on my lovely little drool fest.
Flipping through the ads, I didn't stay long on any one in particular, not really paying much attention to where they were (or how much... yikes). While browsing, I happened to notice that one mare was in Williston, which is only about 20 miles from where I currently live. Curious, I clicked on the ad, thinking, what the hell, maybe at the very least I could make a local contact. This is what I saw.
The mare is 9 years old, hasn't been a broodmare, and has never been backed. Ad says her breeder died when she was young, and nothing's been done with her. Ok, I can work with that, so long as she's not broken. I went and checked out her video. The mare CAN JUMP. Holy crap can she jump. This video is the first (and only I might add) time she's free jumped. Wow. Not broken, definitely not broken. Now my interest is piqued, especially after finding out that this woman, Andrea, is a Hanoverian breeder. Now I really want to make the contact. Tentatively, I send her an email asking if she'd be interested in a lease-to-buy, or let me just come work with her for awhile, as I'm not in a position to buy anything just yet. She emails me back and asks me to call her, that we should most definitely talk. Great!
At this point I feel it's pertinent to mention - I'm shy. My first reaction when needing to talk to anyone new is email or text them. It's less personal, and I find a much easier time expressing myself through the written word (the thesaurus and spell check are some of my best friends). Being that Andrea asked me to call her, I immediately got nervous, but I tried to stay positive. Who knows, I might NOT make an absolute fool of myself by stumbling over my own thought processes, right?
I swallowed my fear (as well as my pride... funny how often those two go hand in hand in a situation like that) and I called her.
I needn't have worried.
An hour later, I agreed to call her on Monday to arrange a meet-and-greet with Elysian.
The rest, as they say, is (and will be) history. More to come on our first meeting later.
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