Dawn

Dawn (aka The Princess, or her new show name Sight Unseen) has been in my life for a little over 4 months now and I can't imagine life without her! When I first saw Gail's list (in the days before the wonderful TIER website) something about the description of this sweet little horse just tugged at my heart strings. I knew I was a gonner when during a nightime rain I woke up wondering if the little mare was getting rained on and if she was cold! On June 6th (which ironically would have been my dad's birthday) I got a phone call from Gail that the mare I had been interested in was being shipped in about an hour- what did I want to do? After some terror filled moments, I did the only thing I could do, I said, "I'll take her" I also owe thanks to CIndy from H.O.R.S.E rescue who assured me that if things didn't work out she would either help me place her in a home or would take her to their rescue facility. SO , with a back up plan I took the plunge. My non-horsey husband just shook his head and said "I hope you know what you're doing!" I didn't dare tell him that I had NO idea what I was doing, I just KNEW it was right. And to this day, I think it was one of the best decisions in my life! The Princess has her problems. My vet diagnosed her with some nasty high ringbone, but she is becoming servicably sound. She has days that are better than others, but we have a plan to manage her condition and she is moving around quite comfortably. In fact, three weeks ago she carried my 3 year old daughter to win her first blue ribbon in the lead line class in a local show! I've ridden her bareback in a halter and found out the hard way that the old girl has a lot of spirit and plenty of get up and go! She enjoys the trails and thus far seems to be "bomb proof" It has taken some time for her to learn to trust again- she is absolutely petrified of whips and shows behaviors that the vet says indicate that at some time in her life she was left to forage for survival, but when I arrive at the ranch each day she now greets me with a loud nicker and "runs" to the gate of her corral to be let out! Each day she shares a little more of her personality with us! I think that she has brought a face to the thousands of horses that go through the feedlots each year and I truly hope that maybe we have been able to convince one person to consider a feedlot horse or to at least think twice when they sell their current horse and realize that good horses do end up in bad places! I thank God daily for allowing me the honor of sharing my life with this very special friend and I thank Gail for making it all happen!

1/10/00 - Pictures of "Dawn" and her highly skilled rider Elena when they won that blue ribbon!