My senior year in high school I met an older gentlemen who owned a stallion. He was a retired cutting horse and the man told me I would be doing him a favor by exercising him. I would get up before school and go out to where he had the horse. Too embarrassed to tell the man I had no clue how to saddle or bridle him, I would go and ride him bareback with a halter and lead rope. Thank the good Lord this was a gentle, laid back stallion.
I acquired my first horse Tee Jay when I was 21. I had just moved back home from college and I decided that I needed a horse and I could not wait any longer. I looked with a friend for months before coming across him. It seems E
VERYONE had a kid broke horse. Half the places we went they could not catch the horse or worse. Horse buying, what a terrible experience for someone that had no clue about the process. My only knowledge of horses is what I had read in a book or online, and my little experience with the stallion in high school. I had actually gone to look at another horse, and of course this "kid broke" horse they couldn't even catch. I got frustrated after about an hour of watching this ridiculous chase and asked if they had anything else. They showed me Tee Jay who was a registered paint horse that was there because the family that owned him had lost their house
and their daughter was needed emergency surgery. He was standing in a stall up to his knees in his own poop and pee. They pulled him out and told me he did not know much, been saddled a few times but that was about it. He was severely emaciated. I was tired of looking for a horse and I was upset at his condition. I said load him up and deliver him.
He was delivered at night into
our gated community. Obviously one of those everyone kno
ws everyone type of deals. My parents met me at the place I was keeping him. I had struck a deal with some people that had 5 acres and two horsse on it. I told them that I would pay for feed and hay and take care of their horses if I could keep mine there. When we unloaded Tee Jay out of the trailer my parents were mortified. They told the people to take him back, I of course argued and he got to stay. They wanted me to hide him because of his condition. Most of the people in the neighborhood came o
ver and new what was going on. Everyone was real nice and helped us with what vet to use and more. Not going to say it was easy, he had to be fed a handful of feed every couple of hours until we could work him up to a scoop a day. Most of the people in the area that had horses told me he would never amount to anything. They were convinced that once I got weight on him that he would become this uncontrollable thing. I never understood that. Not saying we didn't have our issues. I had no clue having a horse that wasnt broke. He was really b
ad about rearing. If he did not understand or did not want to d
o it, he would rear. I never gave up on him though and there were so many trails that we explored. The more miles we did the better he got. My mom would ride with me the most, she would ride one of the other hors
es that was pastured with him. They were both really broke so Tee Jay and I would just follow and learn as we went.
Trail riding him is how I acquired my second horse Splash. There were some other people in the neighborhood that had 7 acres but boarded their horse. They asked me if I would ride him if they brought him home. Of course I
said yes. Splash was a professionally trained western pleasure paint, which was so very different from my Tee Jay who knew nothing. My dad always rode Splash. They have the same personality, you know the ones, always the jokers. The people that owned him eventually gave him to me also. They really had no clue about horses and when I moved and took tee jay with me, splash got severely depressed. A neighbor of theirs called me and told me what was going on so I called and they asked me to come get him. When I pulled up and whistled I thought he was going to have a heart attack. He was laying in the back of their property and he jumped up and ran full force to me, stuck his head in the halter and was trying to load himself before I could get the door open.
I moved to Mineral Wells and they of course went with me along with my jersey steer I had bought, called Norman. I lived there for a while and did play days, barrel races and team penning. Pretty much just what ever I could do to get my riding skills up. I then got a job on a ranch in weatherford taking care of an older couples ranch. They lived in Dallas and needed someone to feed, water and take care of the animals. This was great, 300 acres, an arena, round pen barn and I could bring my animals. I still was wanting something more, I wanted to really get my horses into something. I was asking around when someone told me about the Cowgirl Chicks. I joined and my horses excelled at it. And that is how I got to where I am now. I still live on the ranch and have become a collector of horses, LOL. Just one of those addicting things. Of course though I want to be challenged all the time, and that is how I came about finally getting my first mustang. I needed a challenge, I wanted to know if the skill I had learned over the years was good enough to work with one.
