The Col's Choice






Raven

Black AQHA gelding

Colonel Wheel Bar x Poco Mendy
1983 - 2006


When I first laid my eyes on Raven nearly ten years ago, he was spooky and unruly. In order to be ridden, he had to wear driving blinders and a seven inch gag hackamore bit, but even then, he still had to be ridden at a gallop for nearly an hour just to be manageable. I learned he had been up and down the east coast, living as a cowboy's horse until finally being deemed too much of a hassle to fight with.
Naturally, my fourteen year-old self had fallen in love with him.

I made it my mission to make him a happier horse, no matter how long it took. I brushed him nearly every day for a year, never laying a piece of tack on him. I found that his passion in life was carrots and I fed them to him relentlessly. The horse that was once wide-eyed and skittish in the barn, soon became the half-asleep horse in cross-ties. I still remember how excited I was that he let me brush his ears. From there, I began leading him outside, taking him for long walks in the hay fields, letting him graze for as long as he wanted. 

It wasn't until two years after I had first seen him that I felt ready to get on him. I was determined not to use the extreme equipment he was used to and settled on a five inch Argentine Snaffle and a tie-down. His instinct to bolt once he had a rider on his back was still there, but it only took a few minutes for him to settle into a trot. I never asked anything of him other than to go nice and easy. Every time I rode him, he relaxed sooner and with less demanding on my part. By the close of summer, he would walk off on a loose rein.

For the next two years, I competed with him in barrel racing, the event that had once driven him nearly mad with anxiety. He never lost his cool and actually learned to enjoy himself. I retired him after our most successful season in 2004, putting the saddle back on him for trail rides only. In the fall of 2004, I moved him and my other horses to my new barn, where he spent the last two years grazing on green pastures and sleeping in his big, comfy box stall.

Unfortunately, his age finally caught up with him. Raven suffered a number of health issues including lymphangitis, cataracts and an uphill battle with poor digestion. I had Raven humanely euthanized and buried at the barn we had become friends at all those years ago, knowing that to him, that was home. It had been difficult to let him go, knowing how far he had come despite having all the reasons in the world to never trust a human again.

Walking into my barn now, knowing he won't be there popping his lips while he waits for his morning grain or offering a soft nicker as I shut the barn up at night, breaks my heart.
But I know great horses live again.

Thank you, Ravenous, I will never forget you.














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