First Trailer Ride

Mystery was waiting for us in the roundpen. The pen was a circle of 10 foot tall plywood with two big doors. He could not see out and was circling back and forth, yelling to the herd. The cowboy I hired, a calm, soft spoken gentleman somewhere in his 50s, arrived with an old heavy duty truck and a two horse straight load. "How are we ever going to get him in there" I asked, watching thru a hole in the plywood from the outside as my horse galloped round and round. "Don't worry Miss, I have my methods" the cowboy muttered as he turned the truck and started backing the trailer toward the gates. "Now when I get close enough, you open those gates so I can back my trailer in and DON'T you let that horse ESCAPE" he said.

I opened the gates as he slowly back the trailer in. The entrance to the trailer was flush with the gate so where there was once an escape now there was a trailer. "You can try leading him in first Miss and when you get to the front you need to quickly tie him off and jump out of the escape door". Well that sounds easy enough... By this time I could halter Mystery and lead him around the ranch; he was learning he could trust me so I brought him staight up to the trailer and stepped in. He followed, smelling the hay and the sweet feed in the manger but as soon as I got to the front and opened the escape door he panicked, backing out as fast as he could go. I tried again, but this time he refused to enter the trailer and had a panicked look in his eye.

"well, lets try a different method then Miss" said the cowboy and asked me to step outside. Soon he had Mystery running in circles, round and round, changing direction. Soon he was lathered in sweat and the cowboy let him rest by the open trailer. As soon as Mystery moved from the area he would work him again, then invite him to rest by door. Soon, Mystery would just stop by the entrance and then it was like a light bulb went off in his brain, he looked at the entrance and stepped inside and up to the manger, grabbing a mouthful of sweet fed. The cowboy attached the butt chain and I attached his halter to the trailer tie...we were in business and ready to go home. I was thrilled and excited...Mystery would be about 40 minutes away from me instead of 2 hours and I would be able to work with him. Our new life awaited us...

Life Can Be Hard For A Horse

In the here and now:

Mystery currently enjoys his day in Northern California pastures with a small mixed herd of horses. He is still ridden at 24 years of age but mainly spends his day doing what horses are suppose to do. We just had a spectacular week of warm, dry weather and I went out to see him aroud 10 a.m. Here is what I found:

He is looking at me from the upper right part of the picture....don't get up!



Ok, I won't! The herd is use to me so no one was disturbed by me walking around taking pictures giggling at them all!







Ok, let me get to my feet....


And stretchhhhhh.....

Yawn! I'm ready!

The End and The Beginning...

“Kim, this is your Uncle calling, I have bad news”…. 5 a.m., wow, it is my Uncle in Pa., “how are you, so nice to hear from you”. And then he told me and I can’t remember the exact words, but time stood still. But it was about Susan; she had collapsed and was in the hospital. She had a brain aneurysm and was on life support.

That moment changed my life forever and started a very dark, very rough period in my young life. I raced to her town (1-1/2 hours away) and went straight to the hospital. It was early, no one was there. Susan was in bed; machines breathing for her, motionless. It was shocking.

We had spent so many hours together, talking girl talk, about our dreams, hopes, ambitions. Talking about what would happen if one or the other of us would die and what we believed in. She had two kids she loved more then life itself, two horses she was loyal too for their entire lives. She had opened her home, her heart, her life to her wayward cousin and now she was in front of me, eyes closed, the machines breathing for her. As I sat there talking to her, telling her I loved her, I felt an energy emanating from the top of her head. If it was just my imagination so be it, but I felt her there and I felt her leaving her body; I knew then she was gone.

The following days were horrible and a blur. Her mother came out to Ca., as did my Uncle and we helped to make the arrangements. They donated her organs and stopped life support. The kids had to move in with their alcoholic father since there was no will. Who expects to die a age 32? No one wanted to deal with the horses except to leave them at the ranch where they could roam for the remainder of their days.

My words on how the ranch owner wasn’t feeding or taking care of them fell on deaf ears. Gombol was 19 or 20 and no longer young, he was not keeping his weight up. Horses need good food, medicines, shots, trims or shoes but no one would listen. It was a sad and frustrating time. The girls father told me I would always be able to visit, but then started playing games when I tried. I would drive all the way out just to be told they could not go out with me and he refused to speak to me about it. I knew for their mental health I would have to distance myself as they needed to bond with their dad and his family. It was just one of many regrets in my life.

I made arrangements to board Mystery closer to home. He was too far away for me to work with him and get him trained. Once I found a place to board him, I just needed to figure out how to get him there……

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011

The holidays went by in a flash this year. I spent the holidays by myself; alone with the two dogs, rain and quiet. I have an almost 10 year old Beauty Queen Golden, Angelina, and a new 19 month old Red Field type golden, Cannella.

Many a Christmas day has been spent on the beach. This is one of those wonderful things about northern California...a clear winter day can be spectacular for outdoor activities. I brought the dogs and a friend to Limantaur; Pt.Reyes National Seashore and they LOVED it.

Cannella is quite a player and searched for any dog that would play...the bigger the better. She has reminded me what it is to have a young, energetic dog in the household. Fun, draining, challenging. I welcomed this time to spend bonding, training and just falling for her....






Leaving Limantaur and heading home I commented to my friend; "I have seen many bobcats out this way" and just as I said it, I glanced in a pasture by the road and there he (or she) was. What a spectacular way to end a great day!



I don't think there is a better way to spend the day then at the beach during a clear California winter. Except, of course, an all day ride on Mystery...

About Sonny

Susan, like me, was born horse crazy. She worked at a local barn cleaning stalls in order to afford a horse. I only heard her tell the story once, but the horse she had was in poor health and died. The people at the barn gave her Sonny. He was from a Standard bred rescue but had never raced, he was too slow, but he sure was fast enough for us!

Sonny was the type of horse with a work ethic. Point him in the right direction, ask him to move and off he went. Susan used a copper roller bit with shanks on him to keep him in check, he loved to suck on the copper and responded to the slightest touch of the bit. She also taught him just a light pressure to his sides meant “GO” and go he did! I asked her once, isn’t that dangerous and her reply, “well, no one is ever gonna own him but me!”.

I use to love to ride Sonny. I had to work my way up to it; he was not for a beginner rider. We would get on the fireroads and get into his standard bred pacing. Instead of trotting where the diagonal feet take turns, each side goes in tandem. The effect is a gentle sway side to side. Some people cannot stand it, I loved it and so did Sue.


Susan had another game with Sonny. He was a little girthy and sensitive when tightening up the saddle. He would turn his head and snap in the air, something you really don’t want a horse to do. She would bite him on the neck. It was another one of those habits you don’t want to pass on to another owner….


Sonny had no sentimentality. He was definitely not an arab and wanted to just do his job, do it well and go back to his friends in pasture. He taught me how fun it is to just “GO” on a well trained, safe horse and enhanced my equine desires. Everyone should have a horse like Sonny in their lives at some point…

First ride....

“Whats the matter with you? Don’t tell me you are too afraid to get on that horse” Jim, the barn owner, said to me with a smirk. “He isn’t going to hurt you! Hell, I had a cowboy hop on his back when he was two years old and he only bucked a few times!”

“Well, I don’t really want any bucks” I said shyly. I had been dumped enough learning to ride Sue’s horses that I knew risking serious injury was just dumb. “Then I guess I better get on him for you and show you he won’t hurt you”! Next thing I knew Jim had a big, heavy western saddle on Mystery’s back and hopped right on. Mystery just stood there, bracing against the weight, ears to the side and didn’t move. “See, he won’t hurt you”!

I don’t remember the first time I rode him. It was probably in the round pen, probably with Sue and her horses. I do remember the mechanical hackamore Susan gave me to use on him. I didn’t know it then, but it can be a very harsh piece of equipment if used in the wrong hands. By then I was riding ‘western’ with a loose rein and I knew enough to release the pressure when I achieved the response I wanted. If I asked him to stop, he would stop and pressure would be released. If not I would pull, release, pull release until he did. Susan also taught me to use my leg to circle him and keep him from going forward. I started riding him. First in the round pen, then out in the open space with Susan babysitting us.

That summer was short, and brief. The horses looked good, the grass had grown in, and we were supplementing their feed. Days were spent at the pond at the back of the ranch with Sue and her kids. Or just fooling around with the horses, pretending we were teenagers again.
When Sue couldn’t ride, I would work on Mystery, and then catch Sonny for a ‘real’ ride. One day Susan and I were out riding and turned to head home. Mystery spooked and came to a sudden stop. I went over his shoulder and landed flat on my back…something I did quite often until I learned to really sit my seat. He was loose and I figured I’d be walking the rest of the way home but instead he came over to me and peered down into my face like “what are you doing down there?”. Good horse.

But this wasn’t ‘real’ training. Mystery was a mature horse, self-reliant, use to taking care of himself. As he put on weight and condition, he became more head strong. Soon, we started arguing, where to go, how fast, when to stop. My work had just begun….

My Own Horse...now what?

Finally, after years of wanting, dreaming, forgetting the dream, remembering, I had a horse to call my own. For better or for worst. 'They' say “green + green = black and blue”, and by this time I knew why; but back then all I wanted to do was ride, ride and ride!

The ranch was adjacent to hundreds of acres of open space…old Indian lands filled with oak, Manzanita and rocky outcrops with ancient grinding bowls used for centuries to harvest and grind acorns.
I owned my own horse! I could ride for hours and not come across people; explore old homesteads and side trails, if I could only find the courage to ride him! I knew nothing about ‘breaking’ a horse and Mystery was almost 8, mature, confident and independent. He wanted to eat. He did not want to be groomed, or touched. I started the only way I could, by becoming what I hoped would be his friend.

Days were spent walking with the herd in pasture and just following them around. I was fascinated by the hierarchy of the herd and their silent communications. One flick of the ear, one threat with a hind foot, and the offender would be sent on his or her way. One day, hanging out at the top of a rolling slope, I sat down and took off my shoe to clean out grass heads caught in my socks. I looked up to see Mystery staring at me intently. He came over and put his head down curious about my bare foot. I put my barefoot up and he sniffed it, then he looked at the other foot like “well, what about that one”? I untied my other shoe and took it off, then lifted my foot for his inspection. He sniffed, curiousity satisfied, and meandered off to graze. That was our ‘first’ real contact and I was thrilled.

Soon I had him in a halter and started to teach him to lead. I did everything wrong; of course! I had a pouch attached to my belt with pieces of carrot and I bribed him. He would do anything for food and soon I had him following me around like a little puppy. I was very vocal with him and he soon learned “ho” (I learned that from Susan), walk, back. We would open gates together from the ground and go for walks in the open space, but I still did not have the courage to get on his back. I had taken a bad fall from Sonny a few months earlier and could not bring myself to do it.

One day I tied him, too long of course, and I looked back just as he was crawling under the rail, from one side to the next, still tied. He squatted down like a big dog and crawled under, his head twisted back while his butt got through, and then stood up. He just wanted to be on the other side and when he was trapped, he did not panic but just figured it out. Again, I was amazed I actually owned a horse; in particular this one. I knew the time had come to ride him, if we were to move forward with our training…..