Her name was something like
Susie, the dealer didn't really know. He told me I could name
her anything I wanted to. So her name became F'Lessa.
She was my golden queen. She was my first horse, a light creamy
golden palomino with a huge blaze, two front stockings and two hind socks.
She had the biggest brown eyes to go with that understated chrome.
At least when I got her, the chrome was understated. Nutrition and
summer darkened her coat and made her white shine.
'They' said she was too old. 'They' said she was too broken down.
'They' said she cost me too much. 'They' said she was starved.
'They' said she was spooky. Who cares what 'They' said. 'They' don't
know everything. She was beautiful to me and was exactly what I needed
in a first horse. The dealer told me she was 7, the vet told me she was 'voting
age' when I had him float her teeth. She was definitely 'aged' but
who really knew how old she was when I got her, but I had her for 5 years.
Her first lesson was in aggression. Poor thing was starved
and at least 200 pounds underweight. When I took that first bucket
of grain into her stall, she pinned those ears back and snaked her head at
me. But I stood my ground and didn't let her get away with that.
I didn't know that was what I was supposed to do, but I did it anyway.
That is my nature. I'm stubborn. LOL Turns out, she was
too. The second day, she just pinned her ears and watched me.
Within 3 days, there was no more aggression at feeding time. She had
discovered that I didn't want her grain and no one else was going to get
it either, plus the edge of her hunger was taken away. Within 2 months,
my old girl was roly poly and no more ribs showing.
I kept her at a stable, in a little stall with a small turnout pasture
for 3 months, then I found a place with 40 acres of fenced grass.
She has never been in a stall since then. She stayed there for about
a year when we bought our own little piece of heaven, fenced off a section
and brought her home with us. She was easy to ride but she never did
really learn to stop good. And she didn't seem to know what it meant
to just walk. I guess the people who had her before me never walked,
just ran everywhere and she thought that was the way it was supposed to
be. After 6 months at the second place, I finally convinced her that
it was ok to just walk. Either that, or she was just getting tired
and finally slowing down on her own accord. I will never really
know.
One day when I was there, the owner wanted to catch a calf and
get it into a trailer. He asked did we want to help. Sure, what
the heck. LOL She seemed to know more about chasing that calf
than I did, that's for sure. She nearly unseated me 3 times but I hung
on. We never did get that calf in the trailer that night. It
got too dark to see a black calf in the trees so we gave up and turned the
horses loose. That was the most exciting ride I ever had on her.
Then we brought her to our place. That was her last move. But
she was lonely. So I bought her a baby. I tried to keep them
separate for a few days but that wasn't to be. I put him in the little
pasture and left her in the big section. She wasn't concerned about
him one bit until he screamed. Then she charged down the fence line,
slipped in some leaves and went tail over tea kettle. Naturally, when
she fell, she took out the fence. So we had no choice and put her in
the little pen with him while we fixed the fence. They were never separated
after that except when I went riding. She loved on that baby for a
little while then he did something and she nearly kicked him into the next
county just as though he were truly her baby.
That was the last summer
I got to ride her. She had long pasterns in front and her suspensory
ligaments started dropping on her front. We started out with special
shoeing and supplements. They helped her for a year or so but
then even that didn't help anymore. When I went out one day to feed
them, I noticed that she was basically walking on her heels and pasterns
and the toes were up in the air. Naturally, she was in a lot of pain.
I knew it was her time to go. I will always miss my
Lessa. There will never be another like her. But someday
I will have another golden girl.
Karen
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