a post from my son's keepsake blog

The first few days with Gwin have passed, 

and I want to recall every second of it...

but that would take too long, and I'm not waiting 

unnecessarily before we head back to the stables,

so this quick recap will have to suffice. :)

We've been living at the stables. 

We've learned the ropes and made nice with 

the other boarders who visit more frequently. 

We fall more and more in love with Gwinivere every day.

She's so sweet and is really getting used to and warming up to us. 

The first day she arrived at the stables

we walked her around, let her check stuff out.

We took a walk on the street with a couple of other horses

and their owners.

In the afternoon, when it was time to go home and eat,

we turned her out into the pen that Linda (the stable owner)

felt she would do best in. 

I knew the herd would size her up and learn quickly

that she's very submissive and doesn't want any trouble. 

It was still hard to leave her as she whinnied at the fence post

like she wanted out.

I returned a couple of hours later

after picking up some supplies and work boots.

For such a calm and relaxed girl

I was surprised how high she was carrying herself.

She was anxious and insisting that she be able to see

all the way around herself at all times.

I brushed her, gave her some treats,

reassured her that she would be fine (of course, to no avail)

and then returned her to her pen for the night. 

I could tell that the other Appaloosa mare was desperate to get to know her.

But Gwin was too nervous and cautious at first. 

She kept her distance.

When we returned the next day for riding,

Linda told me that Gwin had made best friends with the two 

"top dogs" of her pen (including the Appaloosa)

and she was not worried one bit about who

would be under the shanty for the freezing rain expected that night.

I still put a blanket on Gwin, just incase. ;) 

That night, we groomed and snuggled Gwin.

I saddled and bridled her and rode her for the first time since she's been here.

We did even better than we had the first time I rode her at her last stables.

Which wasn't a big surprise with all the ground work

and relationship building we've been up to. 

There is SO much to write, but honestly,

I can't take one more second of thinking of her 

and not being with her. 

So, we're off to get through school

so we can head to the stables again. 

  

In just three more days we will be DONE with 

homeschool for the month of April,

and we absolutely can not wait!

zeek's day

This is the message I sent to Gwin's previous owner tonight:

"I just got back from being with Gwin. She came walking right over to us when we got to her pen. she's made best friends with the two "top" horses in her pen, surprisingly. and I can already tell the horses like her.

I groomed her for about 45 minutes, and then I walked with her inside. I have been working on walking her without a lead, and today she did SO well. She will walk with her nose nearly on my right hand, straight ahead and even with tight turns. She'll also stop with me and a voice command. I'm working on teaching her to back up to marching feet. For now, I touch her chest and say "back" while marching. She's SO sweet and attentive.

I rode her for about 30 minutes, doing circles and getting her mind off the beaten path. I can tell she's been a trail horse for awhile.

Then I let my son ride her for the first time. She wouldn't do much for him with me in the ring, so I just led her around by walking with her. I was also able to have him ride her completely bare back after I took her saddle off.

I noticed that she is not comfortable even with the idea of being bare back with me. I haven't mounted her yet, but when I checked how she'd react by just draping my arms over her while I stood on the block, she did not like it one bit. I figured he'd have a better chance at it being less than half my weight. I DIDN'T think we'd get him ON her today, but she had no problem with it. He was proud.
Again, I led her around for him. She's kind of a one person girl I'm noticing.

It was hard leaving her tonight. I missed her already half way down the road. She's just so soft and cuddly and sweet. She lets me love on her so much, and she's so loving, herself. I love it!

In Heaven.
Love, Lora"

day two

This is most of the message I sent to Gwin's previous owner tonight:

"Today, Gwin did very well. She's making friends in her pen already, and when I brought her back out to release her tonight the others were SO happy to see her. There was a lot of nose rubbing and snuggling going on out there.

Tonight, I rode her for the first time since she's been here. Only two days, I know, but it feels longer.
She did so well. She was a little jumpy about getting ready to go, but not too bad.

Linda is really liking her, too. She says Gwin has a good demeanor and personality. She really is wonderful.
Linda helped me out a lot with the reigns, positioning, warning Gwin with a slide before directioning, twisting my body and looking where I'm going, etc…
It was so much fun.

I could tell Gwin wanted to follow Julio, the horse Zeek was riding tonight. Every time we would get near him she would wander closer and closer.
She got right and obeyed, though.

I am thinking about signing up for a workshop over Memorial weekend. It's two days - with your horse - some ground work, mostly riding - learning natural horsemanship. I think Gwin will like it, too.

She seems so much more comfortable and at ease today. I would have thought she was relaxed when she was so still before, but now that she's looking around and leading to check things out more, I can tell that it's exactly the opposite. She must be more explorative and nimble when she's comfortable.

We put a blanket on her before we turned her out tonight. It's supposed to be a cold rain, and although the two horses she's seeming to be "in" with are the top two (so we're pretty sure she'll be under the shelter anyway) she'll be warm just incase her newness gets her booted out."

it happened like this

So, the way I found her was a little unusual. I wasn't looking for a horse, at all. We'd only just recently discovered that Zeek loves riding. Prior to that we couldn't even get him to come out of the Jeep at a farm yard.


Greg and I had come to the conclusion that we should start living our life and stop letting the potential for change hold us back from being us. I started taking Karate with Zeek and was thinking about getting a few chickens the following spring. I knew that Greg really wanted a French Bulldog (all his life) and with all the extra space in our home and on our property, I was thinking it wouldn't be so bad to get a third dog...
I was reluctant about this enough to have not shared it with Greg yet.


It was in my search for our Frenchie pup that I came across a horse for sale. She was placed in the wrong category on a pet finder site, and the heading read "19 year old Appaloosa Mare". The only reason I even took a second look is because that is exactly the age and breed of my first horse, Poncho, was when I had gotten him exactly 20 years ago to the month. I looked, I saw, I smiled... I moved on. 


The next morning I found myself thinking about her. SO FAR OUTSIDE OF MY WORLD I kept putting it out of my mind. And it just kept coming back. Finally, I turned myself to God with a big giant "what's up?" and the next thing I knew my eyes were locked with the horse of my dreams, and I was signing a check to the owners. 


Of course, I had talked to my husband, who worked very hard to dispell my every belief that this was in no way even possible. And we did our research. In fact, I'd moved away from the Appaloosa in the add altogether and was looking at other horses for sale. 


I called in all kinds of advice and information about what we were looking at if we were to purchase a horse. Dos and don'ts, vets, shots, floating, ferriers, tackle, boarding, time, money, commitment, etc... 


We wrote it, we talked about it, we prayed. 


I thought I went to Neenah to see the yonger partner horse of the Appaloosa in the ad. I figured if I were going to get my son a horse I needed to get one young enough for him to ride as he grew. 
But God does His thing however God needs to get His thing done, and looking back, I'm fully aware that this was the only way to get me to my girl.  


Back to the moment when we locked eyes...
This is the entry I made in my son's keepsake blog:

She believes it was fate that led her to accidentally 

list her horse for sale under French Bulldogs.

I know it was God's work that led me to look at 

French Bulldogs and find a misplaced horse ad.

When it was all said and done and the dust had settled, 

we were scheduling a trailer to move my new horse to the stables near our home,

and my life had changed in the blink of an eye.

Her name is Gwinivere. 

She's a beautiful sorrel Appaloosa with a white blaze down her face. 

She stands 15 hands and makes my heart race. 

The minute I laid eyes on her, and she laid an eye on me, 

it was settled between us; 

I belonged to her, and she belonged to me. 

And I trembled inside, having never felt this way since 

my first horse (also an Appaloosa) exactly 20 years ago.

When her owner's husband said he'd walk her so I could watch from behind, 

I involuntarily thought to myself, 

I don't care if this horse falls down in the isle and seizes... she's mine.

That's when I knew I was in trouble love.

I scrapped my pulse and strapped my logic back on for 

the remainder of my time with the two horses I was there to look at. 

But my spirit never let go of Gwinivere. 

not for a second.

And today is finally the big day. The day I get to bring her home. 

The waiting has been on a steep incline of impatience 

whose anxiety has only been relieved by butterflies and girlish daydreaming.

I've been flooded with memories and brought back to 

my beginning with horses and my love for them.

I remember riding as a little girl. 

At my Uncle Jack's farm, and on the side of the road 

when my favorite most spoiling Aunt Susie would 

pull her car over to ask strangers to let me ride their horses.

I remember moving to the country at 11 and having neighbors with horses. 

I would walk to their house after school and on hot summer days. 

I would sit at their pasture line and sing to the horses. 

I would pick grass and feed them, 

pat their warm, muscular sides whenever they got close enough. 

I was fascinated, in awe, and heart-struck.

The day my Dad told me that he and my Mom had 

bought me a real horse of my own, I thought I would burst. 

I loved that horse so much.

I rode almost everyday. 

Sometimes, I would even get up early in the mornings to ride before school. 

My horse would lay his body out in a full gallop in the acres behind my house, 

and we would become one with the sky. 

I would nap on the hay stack next to his stable. 

I would climb up and lay on his bareback while he ate grass in the open yard 

and I read a book in the sun. 

My brother, his friends, and I would ride bareback in the field and swamp 

playing portholes and dimensions with plastic swords and throwing stars. 

Having a horse was my dream come true. 

Loosing him two and half years later would be 

the end of my horse love, for two decades.

We tried to replace him. 

My parents bought me another horse, 

and later, my husband leased me a horse for months while we were dating. 

But I just never felt that kind of connection with another horse again.

Until now...