F'Lessa






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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