Meet the Cast - Garlic

We moved in, got settled, ok, now what? Empty barn?? Seriously!? NO way! So the search was on for a horse, I knew what I wanted and what I didn't, much to my delight when I was perusing the online ads I found what I wanted, a young paint mare in foal, green broke (read in this case - wild as parts of Africa.) Had the vet come out to do a pre-purchase exam on her, (she was not in foal after all, but continued anyway.) found some issues, but that did not deter me, my mind was made up. I felt feeling pretty excited about it all. Through divine intervention I ended up stopping at a local horse dealer/tack shop/feed store to pick something up for my sister on the way to her house one afternoon. Knowing that we were looking for a horse but not knowing that I'd already decided on the paint mare the kids mentioned to an employee we were looking for a horse. For reasons I'll never know he took us out back, to the place where they kept the horses that were not for public view, aka 'the skinny pen' to show us a couple horses, I went along out of sheer curiosity. He brought up two horses that were clearly in need of some groceries and lots of tlc, an Appy mare and a Quarter Horse gelding who'd both seen better days. The Appy was beautiful, but too small for me to feel comfortable riding. The Quarter Horse was is worse condition, it was May and he was still in most of his winter coat and despite that you could easily see his ribs and hip bones. In my head I thought he looked like a geriatric bag of bones; the poor thing looked pathetic but had very kind eyes and I felt bad that another human being would let him get into this condition. The four of us talked a bit, my 2 children, the employee and I, but I knew that I'd already decided on the paint mare so we left. I felt a tug on my heart strings for this poor animal, knowing I just wanted to take him home and care for him, make him well. This image of him and the hold he had on my heart would not fade, so the following week I 'found a reason' to stop in again, though it was over an hour drive from our home. I inquired about that poor horse and was taken to see him, he'd been moved to a new pasture but still skinny. The employee told us that he remembered us and hoped that we'd come back and it felt like an honest statement. I knew instantly when I saw him that I could not leave him there, so I went into the store to purchase him and have them deliver him the following day. No history, no pre-purchase exam, nothing, just pure faith and the belief that it was the right thing to do. I drove home feeling more like a child on Christmas eve waiting with anticipation you can feel all the way to your toes than an adult who'd just taken on a huge responsibility. I grinned like an idiot for days!

He was delivered early the next morning and I'm sure the guy who dropped him off drove away from our home laughed all the way to the bank but what they did not know what that I was the lucky one as they had just sold me solid gold at rock bottom prices! My life changed forever that day. You see when I was a little girl I had drawn a picture of a bay horse with a blue halter standing in a stall inside a red barn with white X's on the doors and at that moment that is what I had. At the place where I bought him he just had a yellow livestock tag around his neck but when he was loaded that morning they grabbed a blue halter and that what he came home wearing. You see dreams really do come true.