Mouthy Monday

Here's a neat story about the two-way street we travel when we get the right horse.



http://winterstormranch.blogspot.com/

Jazzmine was an angel in more ways than I could count; she carried me in the saddle for a year and half. She stood by my side willing to try anything I asked her and waited patiently while I fought so hard to do something, waiting for the correct cue.

Jazzmine was a little over 14 hand Bay Arab/Welsh and had the best of both breeds. A little stubborn but as loyal as they come. She was very sure footed and had very solid feet, no shoes on that girl.

When I first met Jazzmine I was scared of her because my first encounter with her a was at the local riding stable while doing a dog obedience class and she was really hyper, all over the place.
I had looked at my foster mom and said that is one horse I will never own. About a week later we called on a saddle her owner had posted for sale and she mentioned she had a little horse for sale. We went down there and saw her and I was hooked from that point forward.

When I took hold of her lead she dropped her head and nudged me and we walked side by side like we had been a unit for a very long time.

When I bought Jazzmine I wasn’t very advance in my riding skills and only wanted a walk/trot horse because I was scared to canter and that was what she was. I have spent just as many times in the saddle then I have on the ground because I have hip problems. I grew up riding old broke broodmares that people would just throw me on. This was my second horse the other one was an old gelding that I learned to ride bareback on at a walk.

In more ways than one I had rescued her from her previous owner, she was only kept in a mud pasture and had to fight for the food amongst the others. She was allowed to rule her owner and her owner was scared of her. Before her previous owner someone had owned Jazzmine with 5 kids that tormented this little angel.

She had been saddled and beat, tied and hosed down, allowed to push every little button she could push. She was known to walk all over you and had no ground manners. Lucky she has some awesome trail manners. She was a former endurance horse before an unknown injury ended her career.

Over the course of the year I had her we worked on overcoming many obstacles and I helped Jazzmine open up a new chapter in her life. I spent the course of the year getting her to accept being saddled while being tied and that once I stepped back from her she had nothing to worry about. It took me the longest time to get her to accept the hose and that baths were an enjoyable time. Another major obstacle was allowing fly spray to be sprayed on her.

Jazzmine and I rode in gymkhana’s together were she taught me to excel and have a fun time doing it. She was a really awesome walk/trot horse that sometimes would canter. She endured 4am wake up calls, saddling by a flashlight and loading in a stock trailer with up to 6 horses counting her was 7. We would travel for 2 hours to the gymkhanas and unload and ride all day (up to 8 hours in the saddle) and get back in the trailer for the journey home.

We spent many hours in the saddle together enjoy many miles of trails, just riding down the road and kicking back on the property. Her spook is to freeze and look.

The funniest moment I have with Jazzmine was when we had put her in the barn for the night and she reached over the rail of her stall and pulled in a futon mattress and a bale of shavings (opened them up and spread time around) and laid in comfort until I got there the next morning to take her out.

While I helped Jazzmine overcome her fears she had gained, she in turned helped me gain confidence in the saddle. She taught many of the riding skills I have today. When I first rode Jazzmine I was a very novice rider and now today I can get on a green broke horse and ride with confidence in myself. She was my little angel that guided through tough times and was always an excellent shoulder to cry in the time in need. She taught me to gain confidence in riding, working with horses that needed a little help, and to just take one day at a time.

She was my first rescue case, she taught me patience, and how to be firm when needed. With the guidance of many other people I was able to use her as a learning tool and now can correct a lot of problems both in the saddle and on the ground with problem horses. I took a little bit of what everyone taught me and turned it into my own training program.

I bought her in July 2005 and sold her December 2006, I knew I needed to get a bigger horse and so I traded her for another horse. The lady then sold her and wouldn't give the new owner my contact information. I assume she is in the Oregon/Washington area, since I sold her to someone in Myrtle Point OR. I miss her everyday and wish I could have kept her but I knew it was the best thing I could do. Since selling her I have taken in several other rescues and with my moms help rehabilitated them and turned them in to awesome trail horses. Most had either little riding or problems and they all went to beginner homes when we finished with them.