Monday, December 17, 2012

A History...revisited...

So first and foremost, I must apologize for all of the grammatical errors in my last post!  Holy bad editing Batman!  My only excuse is my brain is swiss cheese from all the studying and what little brain was left, has been severely compromised by the illness.

I feel famous thanks to SprinklerBandit or maybe I should say Charlie feels famous.  She hit the nail on the head in describing how I feel about my red pony.  When she asked me for a photo of Charlie, I gave her a whole bunch (because who can choose just one?) and one happened to be the first picture I ever took of Charlie.  She asked if I had ever done a post on how, exactly, Charlie came into my life.  I sort of did here but I'm not sure if I ever went into any more depth.  So without further ado, here's the in-depth version of how we came to be and what the first year looked like...

In December 2010, I was in PA for some Navy training in preparation for my upcoming deployment to Kuwait.  My very good friend, Cherie, who I've known for over 20 years (she was my first Pony Club instructor) lives in the vicinity of where my Navy training was taking place.  Because of this, I arranged to arrive in PA a few days early so I could spend the weekend with her.  I figured she would have something for me to hack around on and maybe even have a bit of a lesson so I brought my chaps with me.  I had just started riding again in August and was hoping for some input on what I should be working on with my lease horse.  Cherie typically has approximately 4-5 horses at any onetime, almost all of them are OTTBs.  When it came time to hop on, she told me to ride Charlie (whose name at that time was Cosmo) as he was the quietest thing she had.  *Just an aside about me, while I can stay on just about anything (because it seriously takes a lot to get me off, not because I'm awesome - promise!), I prefer to ride something quiet and takes a few kicks to get to where you want to go.*  As I was tacking him up, I was thinking "hmmm...he's kind of big and isn't this the one she told me about a couple of weeks ago?  The one who had just come off the track?"  I trusted her (not always the smartest move which you'll understand in a few sentences) and we went for a little hack down the road.  Cherie's horse was being a bit of a hooligan and while Charlie was trying to figure out what was so concerning, he didn't spook at anything - not the chickens running loose in the neighbor's yard, not the neighbor horses who came galloping up to the fence as we walked by, not the dogs barking, you get the picture.  On the way back from the hack, we stopped in the ring where I proceeded to trot around and attempted to canter.  I say attempt because I honestly couldn't get him to canter, that's how pokey he was.  We trotted a few "Xs" which he hopped over like a school pony and then headed back to the barn.  As I was untacking him, Cherie proceeds to tell me that's the first time he's gone for a hack down the road and the second time he's jumped...

For whatever reason, after she told me how little he'd done, the wheels started turning.  I took a picture and texted it to SuperMom asking her what she thought.  I asked Cherie how much and she quoted a price that included a huge "friends and family" discount.  SuperMom was supportive (as usual!).  Now, keep in mind I WAS NOT IN THE MARKET FOR A HORSE.  I was still in school, at least a year away from a decent job and not to mention, an upcoming deployment to the desert.  But for some reason, it just seemed right.  Cherie tried to talk me out of it, promising she would find me another one when I was done with school.  But I wanted this horse and being a firm believer in everything happens for a reason, I went with my gut.  I definitely had moments of "what the heck was I thinking?!?!" but for the most part, I was just super excited and knew things would work out.  After a PPE by Cherie's husband Tom, the deal was done.  Here's some video we took to show my mom how awesome he is.  Keep in mind this is his third or fourth time jumping and he's about 6 weeks off the track.  I think he'd been ridden a grand total of about 10 times prior to my getting there.


 
First picture I ever took of Charlie...

To be continued...


10 comments:

  1. Awesome story can't wait to read the rest.

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    1. Thanks - now I just have to make sure I don't wax on! Haha!

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  2. Oh he's so big and leggy in that video, I love it! I feel like when you have a gut feeling on a horse, nothing else matters. If you can do, you must do!

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