10 years of Chestnut Mare under my belt… award please?

This week marks our 10^th year together.

A cold but sunny day in January, 2016.

I still remember the day Deli stepped off the trailer like it was yesterday. It was my first-ever emergency vet bill! We struggled for the first year and a half together as I worked with her on the ground, teaching her all the things a polite horse should know. I had trained baby horses before, but it was quite the challenge teaching an ADULT horse who’d had little handling how to do the basic things many horse owners take for granted. We also dealt with injury and illness during that time that put the STRESS in stressful.

Recent road riding around our barn.

But each year things have gotten better. We may be older and creakier with past injuries, but we are partners now. She turns 17 in May the day after I turn 32.

Road riding in February.

This horse is a huge challenge. But she also holds a piece of my heart that belongs to nobody else. Even knowing all the pain and hardship we would face in the past ten years I’d do it all again. I think she came into my life for a reason and vice versa.

I'm looking forward to the next ten years with this beautiful individual.

My husband made her a "mash cake."

Last time: PNER Convention Notes – "10 Things You Can Do Better" by Susan Garlinghouse, DVM, MS
Next time: Sharing my experience of the GHOST saddle prototype I tried out in February.