My herd currently consists of 2 geldings. My first horse, Crispy and my heart horse, Rusty. This is where I tell you their stories and how they came to me.
Crispy: My Patriarch
Once I convinced family that horses would be a good idea (boy did I have them fooled – am I right?! lol) I was on the search for my first trusty steed. Mind you I have NO horse experience. Zilch… Nada y’all. But I just wanted a horse. My papaw was in the military and had riding stables near his base. He rode all the time, so he was the experienced horse person between the 2 of us.
So to the internet I go on the hunt for my equine treasure. I knew nothing about breeds, disciplines, training, lingo….NOTHING 🙃. I came across a horse rescue that allows people to adopt horses for their second chance. All these horses have been through some type of rough patch of life; whether that is neglect, abandonment, being surrendered, and the list goes on and on. I saw him on their website and was very interested.
Honestly I don’t know what drawn me to him… probably the low adoption cost if we are being honest. We went and looked at him went through the process and brought him home.
Y’all… it was the typical “safe to ride” situation 🤨, but we had a friend ride Crispy before I did. BOYY am I glad we did… Crispy took off sliding all over the asphalt (no clue that was a hazard until that moment) and was galloping away into the sunset. Our friend got him stopped and that was my first, of many, wake-up call. I only rode him supervised and in an arena.
Once I got other broke horses, I decided to retire him. He was in his mid to upper 20s in 2015, so he is now well into his 30s and living his best life as a companion horse.
Rusty: My Game Changer
In November of 2018, I am sitting in my college class when I get a phone call from a person that never calls me. I have purchased a few horses from her so I answered immediately with an idea of what she wanted. She asked me if I was looking for another horse (I currently had 4…while in college.. it was a lot at the time). I was most certainly not looking for another BUT I was now! She sent me pictures of a big ole red roan 😍 that her friend was offering up to me. I stopped and looked at him on the way home. Turned out they had his papers! Registered AQHA Hancock Gelding. You can take that how you wish if that was a blessing or a curse. He did come with some baggage though.. like I’m sure most Hancocks do haha!
He came to me FREE (never a good sign). The previous owners were going to put him down if I didn’t take him; they believed he had foundered. When I was looking at him nothing stood out to me for founder… the girl that called me thought it was an abscess, and I agreed with her.
I was working at a horse barn at the time that let me take him to their place so I could doctor him back up. “Hank” came to me and that was the start of my journey going into hyper drive. His name was changed to Rusty since I had a Tank at the time (God bless his sweet soul.. R.I.P my dear friend).
Few weeks later he was sound and healthy, so I started working with him from the ground to see what he knew. He did alright so I went on to riding. First time I got on him I had my dad there just in case and I wore my helmet (I make sure to wear one if I don’t know the horse – that is another post later on 😉) and this dude did not budge one single step. Previous owner warned me that he can give one good buck and then he is all good, and he would not move forwards, backwards, side to side…. nothing. All we did is look at each other – literally.
After working with him more I finally got some forward motion and then he really livened up. He has gave me one MASSIVE buck one time and never has since *knocking on wood*.
Fast forward, I get a message from an girl I knew in high school asking if I would be interested in trying Drill Team. Her and some friends were going to try it out and invited me also. We sent in riding videos beforehand and were invited to the first practice. The practice went good, but at the end they pulled out flags to try. Rest assured prior to that day Rusty had never seen a flag before, and I knew he was going to leave me sitting on the ground in the position I was just in on him.. He took off running terrified of these flags.
Over the course of the 1st year of owning my snorty Hancock gelding, we worked on the flag, began to understand each other, and performed in our very first rodeo together. That was an experience; neither of us had ever been on the arena floor during a rodeo before, let alone the biggest one of the year in our area. I’ve owned him for 5 years now and he is a rock solid drill team partner. He handles everything I throw at him in stride. Rusty has took me places I never dreamed of going. We now run a drill team that me and the girls from the old team created from the ground up. We’ve done cattle sortings, local horse shows, trail ridden, and so much more. I would not be where I am today without this dude, and I am blessed to have had the opportunity to take a chance on him.
These horses, as well as the others I no longer own, have each made an impact on my learning in the equine industry. I have been around so many horses in my short years of ownership, and they have all aided in my growth. I would love to hear about that one special horse that sticks out in your education in horses. Rusty is clearly my light bulb moment horse where things began to click and I started to really push myself. Who is your Rusty?