And it begins....

Well here it is, our first blog!

It was mentioned to me by a certain cowgirl (...and you know who you are!) that I need to start a blog about my adventures, triumphs and defeats in regards to the portion of my busy life that I carve out for my horse Ace.

So a bit of history then, so you know how this relationship came to be. In 2000 I decided it was time to get a horse again after starting out on my own in life and settling in with the man that later became my husband. I looked far and wide, I looked at drafts, I looked at pintos, but there was this nagging desire for another cremello. When I was 10 years old my parents bought me a 2 year old cremello filly. She was beautiful, just like the unicorns that coated every surface of my childhood room. But, as green as we were, she was more green, and was sold to find a better "teacher" for me. All horses that pass through our lives teach us a lesson on the way. I don't think I learned her lesson and was destin to re-do it, which I guess is what I am doing now.

So I found Ace online. A straggly looking yearling ready to head to auction. I had saved up my tip money and didn't have enough to travel the hundreds of miles to view him, so I bought him sight unseen aside from one photo (which I can not find right now?) and the knowledge he hadn't been handled much. Born in the barn then left to run the property with the other horses, I figured, "well he won't have been ruined!" I had him shipped out. When he stepped of the trailer and blinked those big blue eyes in the sun, my heart was his.

We had a rough go for the first few days. He was very afraid, never had his legs or feet touched and I began to wonder what I had done! Then he just took to me, and I was mom. He followed me everywhere and acted like a foal to a Mare. As he grew I thought about not gelding him, as there was talk about AQHA overturning their decision to not register Cremellos. With nice breeding, and guaranteed to throw color I held off. By the time he was 3 he was a hormonal teen and I had to make the decision as to what our future was going to look like. I wanted a horse, not a stud, so we went to the vet. Not too long after the breeders came looking, as Cremellos were now able to be registered and they were wondering if he was gelded! They were disapointed he was, though I wouldn't have given him up anyay ;)

At 2 I attended a clinic by a well repected trainer, thinking it was foundation work. Boy was I surprised on day 2 when he said saddle up! We worked him through it at the clinic and I rode like the others, but the techniques this trainer was using were good in principle, but poor Ace was on his hinds, scared and confused. I do not feel he had the touch he claimed to be teaching. I took the good and the bad and filtered it to a way I could work with, and like any good horseperson, threw out the bad and moved forward with the good. I figured the clinic ride went so well I would just saddle up, hop on and ride the ring, with a buck, buck here and a... well that was it, actually! I was off and injured my leg. Pretty sure it was broken, I drove to the Doctor, but couldn't drive home when the swelling came in. I was off for awhile, my pride was brusied, and my fear began as a tiny seed planted deep within.

A year passed before I thought about riding him again. Why? I have fallen off so many horses over so many years, why has this affected me so much? Not only did I have the fear of being hurt, I had the fear of ruining him, this little guy I took in and promised to do the best for.

Stay tuned for part 2 in this saga that is our life.... :)

**Ace as a 2 year old in these pictures.