Just an introduction and a story of my childhood horse

[Tia and Panzer]

Hi!

I am usually on the dog forums (and new to petshub in general) but grew up with horses and thought I'd get my "horse fix" here reading.


I grew up with horses...my dad used to train horses for our neighbor so he could keep his roping horses on her property. Well, when I was almost 5, there were two great quarter horses Dad had finished training and they were being sold. So he took me up to the sale and I got to pick which horse I got (my brother was barely a year old, but I got to pick "our" horse). So I picked Sally...she was a 2 year old bay mare and just as gentle as they come.

So I learned how to ride on Sally, I still remember the first day I got her fast enough to lope and she broke a sweat. :-) I learned how to rope on Sally, I learned how to move cattle on Sally (she moved cattle instinctively so I mostly just sat on her at first and she did the work.)

In her prime, Dad was offered a lot of money for my Sally Mae. He could get on her and team rope and she'd be all fired up and ready to go, he could bring her out of the arena right afterward and throw me up there and she would switch modes back into kids' horse.

My brother also grew up on Sally. Dad went through three or four horses while we had Sally...they would get stuck in a cattle guard, or break a leg, one got bitten by a rattle snake, one disaster after another with his horses. Sally never had any problems...she was never lame, rarely sick, and just an all-around great horse.

Two years ago, Dad called me and said he would like to sell Sally. I had moved away from home, and my brother didn't use her anymore and Sally was getting older. We can only have two horses at a time and it was time for Dad to get another team roping horse started while Barney was still in his prime. Sally was 18 at the time, and wasn't being used much so we wanted her to go somewhere she would be used, well cared for, and loved. We both cried on the phone when we decided we indeed would sell Sally. We labored over who would get her and a ton of people looked at her. Sally had quite a reputation in this area for her kid-saavy and just being a good horse...she was also a beautifully built quarter horse. Finally, our neighbor looked at Sally to buy for his granddaughter. She had ridden Sally at a branding one time, and every horse after that was Sally, all she did was talk about Sally. I think this girl was probably 5 or 6 at the time and was in love with my horse. So we sold Sally to our neighbor and she is loved by that little girl more than any horse wants to be loved.

Dad and I both cried our eyes out when Sally went to her retirement home. I get to see her all the time when I want to, and she still comes over to get a pat from me. People thought I was nuts crying over my horse and especially since she didn't die or nothing bad happened, but just that I sold her.

So that's my sappy story about my childhood friend. When I am out in the country visiting my parents I still get to ride Barney, and shortly after we sold Sally, Dad bought Andy. They're both wonderful horses and as sweet as they can be, but they're not my Sally girl. She will never be replaced and will always be a part of my childhood. (BTW..do you notice the naming theme of Dad's horses...Andy and Barney? ;-) )

[Shemmyboy]

thats cute....

[SacredWarGirl23]

Quite some story you've got there.

[Ballydoyle]

That is wonderful, I love to hear horse stories. I hope Sally Mae is in a fabulous horse heaven with oats and other equines 24/7