January 1, 2013 Happy
New Year!
Every year, New Year’s
Day starts a new beginning. In looking
back over the previous year, if it went well, we have a great start to continue
building on in the next year. If it was a less than stellar year, for
whatever reason, the New Year is a time to get a fresh start. And I always look at the New Year as my
anniversary. Today has been 39 years
since I bought Buddy. After I had
decided for sure to buy him, Dr. Elrod was nice enough to let me join a couple
of my friends and rent one of his barns down the road from his main barn. They already had their horses there and I was
going to lease a stall as well. We were
all college students and shared the chores and did all the work. Everything was set up and ready to go, I just
needed to make arrangements to finish the transaction. No problem, horses need to be fed every day,
so Dr. Elrod and many of his clients were at his barn even though it was New
Year’s Day. It was a beautiful, brisk,
cold day when I moved him to his new home.
Sorry if I sound a little nostalgic over a horse, but Buddy
was pretty amazing. Over the next 18
years, we travelled many of the roads, fields, and woods in the area. He even toured the bottom of a ditch one
time, but that’s another story. He was a
great listener when I needed an ear, a partner when I needed a ride and someone
I could always count on. I think it was
due to Buddy that I ended up living a mile from the farm where I bought
him. He’s also responsible, in a way,
for my being married to a fellow horse lover for the last 36 years. When I
was three weeks overdue with my son, and was desperate to try anything to go
into labor, Buddy was my safe and gentle horse who plodded along with me on his
back. He gave the best pony rides to my kids as well
as nieces and nephews, but could challenge me when he felt like it. Buddy was rock solid and healthy, until I lost
him to colic a few months shy of his 23rd birthday. He was
the reason I love American Saddlebreds and will tell anyone that they are the
perfect all around horse.
Buddy, Best Ever Saddlebred!!
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