A lengthy horse story, and my hello =)

Well, I suppose this is my 'quick' hello! (not really)...A lengthy story for the horse-lover in you... =)

My name is Stephanie and I'm a college student fixing to enter my 3rd year. Where I go to school rodeo is a BIG thing, so needless to say all my friends seem to have their own herds of horses running around there backyard...le sigh. For the last 2 years I've always been content grooming, riding, playing with and spoiling my friends horses...always secretly plotting to steal on away for myself. Mewhaha! I pinched pennies, kept my ears and eyes opened, searched classifieds, webpages, and listened through friends...just searching for that 'meant to be' horse that called out to me. A majestic colt, or a moody mare, it didn't matter to me as long as it was something for me to love on (and not an Arabian, ew). And I says to myself : "Self, one day I'll pull up to a big fancy ranch (w/ my boyfriends trailer in tow) and from a herd of a hundred God-given babies...I'd find, and come home with, that 'meant to be' horse..it'll be young! And wild! And some exotic breed!" But not an Arabian, never an Arabian.

Unfortunately, my semi-blind skinny old man didn't come to me that way.

Infact, he fell in my lap. (Erm, not literally of course). Nameless came to me a few weeks ago, through a friend, of a friend..of a friend ...who knew someone...etc. His previous owner had lost interest in her horses and well...simply 'cut them off'...turning them out into a sparse back pasture w/ no feed and bad grass. The darlings were starving (to my knowledge one even passed away in the pasture and went unnoticed for days). I had ridden Nameless once before. He's the sort of gelding you could walk up to in a pasture, put a halter on, and ride around to your heart's content and he'd given 110% the whole time. Erm, did I mention he had one eye? Eh, funny thing was no one knew how he'd lost it. (this had been years and years and years ago) Amazing lil boy. And when I found out that Arabian (I know, I said never an Arabian) was being slowly killed...well, lets just say I got a 'lil tempermental.

Long story short... (or longer story shortened)..this Owner eagerly handed over her once 'favorite' horse, agreed to sell off the rest (as of today she'd gotten rid of 4 more) and stay out of the horse industry from here on out. I sincerely wish I could do more (like run her off her property and take the rest) but I understand that she -is- trying now, and sometimes you have to deal with baby steps when it comes to tenative matters such is this. As much as I'd love to run in there and rescue everyone (sending her away in cuffs) I know that even with somewhat substantional evidence it can be difficult to have a persons property (yes, in this case a living creature is nothing more than 'property') removed. And should her feathers be 'ruffled' she might gather up her horses and condem them to a slow end. (Unfortunately this Owner has the mentality that -she- can give her horses a better home than anyone else, and that NO ONE could love them as much as she does. )And so now I sit back and wait, giddy every time someone (my friend of a friend, of a friend) calls to tell me that another horse has left her pasture.


When I picked Nameless up from his previous owner, I sobbed. I held it in until he was in the trailer and we were pulling out of her place, but I openly sobbed for a good 10 minutes. The most devistating thing I've ever seen in my life was skin and bones and looked near death, but still eager to have a halter put on and have attention paid to him. He could barely walk...but he gave 110% when he crawled in the trailer. I could count every rib, his hip bones jutted out under thin patchy skin, and his legs buckled together from sheer exhaustion. How anyone could do this to anything (be it horse, dog, human) was beyond me. Everynight I have to thank God for giving the people at humane organizations (like LSER) the strength not to just get so depressed and frustrated they give up.

And now, I visit my old man 3 times a day to feed him (vet says many small feedings, then we'll move up to a few big ones), groom him, clean his stall, turn him out and generally smother him w/ affection. (my friends joke that I'm going to brush all his hair off). He see's me at 6 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm...and even at 6 am (when I'm not excited about anything and barely alive) he's eager as ever to see me. He's slowly gaining weight, sheading out his winter coat (yes, its May in Texas and he's still fuzzy) and sometimes I watch him get excited over nothing and just kick out or prance around in a little circle in the pasture out of sheer joy .(did I mention based on his teeth, the vet guesses he's about 20something..old in horse years, I'm barely 20 and I can barely find the energy to trot to the kitchen and back.)

And all this reminds me that whenever your least looking for love (or the last place you'd look for it) you'll find it. Whenever you think you're alone, theres someone (or thing) out in the world waiting for you. And those of us who can take pleasure in lifes little gifts will live well into our prime. (trotting circles in a pasture, ah bliss).

And Nameless, well, he's not young, or wild, or exotic...or even Nameless anymore...he's Stinker, my little Stinker.

<3
Steph