After a terrible tragedy which took the lives of three of our beautiful horses on August 11th, 2003, I thought it would be awhile before we would ride again. After we had been assured that the one remaining horse was going to be fine we decided to sit down and have a talk about getting new horses. First off, we decided that the new horses would not be replacements. Anyone that knows us is aware of how much the three horses we lost meant to us. Instead these new horses would be companions that we would share our trail riding adventures with. Going forward, we decided to look at breeds that were well suited to trail riding and the Tennesee Walking Horse ended up at the top of the list. These are naturally gaited gentle horses that have great strength and temperaments. We looked at a few horses, rode a few horses and drove several miles to see and ride horses. In the end we bought three geldings of various ages, colors and sizes.
Splash is a four year old TWH/SSH gelding, he is 16 hands and weighs about 1100 pounds. He has been down to the half way point of the mule trail into the Grand Canyon and has been trail ridden in the Gypsum Hills of Kansas down in Medicine Lodge. He is a nice addition to our family and will primarily be Todd's horse. I hope to sneak a ride on him occasionally though because he is very sweet and a blast to ride.
Dumas is a four year old TWH gelding, he is 15.1 hands and weighs about 1000 pounds. He is a former show horse but was shown in the pleasure classes so he has never had the built up pads on his feet. Our first trail ride with him was great, he was not spooked by cattle, creek crossings, the bridge or the hills we love to climb. Dumas is going to be my primary mount.
Junior is a two year old TWH/SSH gelding, he is 14.2 hands and weighs about 700 pounds. He has been trained for trail riding and is not spooked by much, he was there with Dumas when we ran into the momma cow and her calf and he didn't seem scared of them at all. He is very sweet and I enjoy riding him.
The horses we lost:
Each one had and always will keep a special place in our hearts. Their horse-analities were different and yet each was somehow a reflection of us.
Checotah Cheyenne (Big-un) was a gentle giant, he was Todd's horse. It took me quite a while to conceed this horse. You see, I got Big-un as a weanling in 1995, he was so kind and big even as a colt. His first halter was yearling sized and he quickly grew out of it. From then on any time I went shopping for him I had to buy x-large sizes. Our farrier used to joke that "maybe one day he will grow into his enourmous feet, I'm just glad I don't have to feed him". Everything about Big-un was great, he was a lead horse on the trails, you could go out on your own with him and know that he would take care of you, I will forever be grateful I was riding him in Colorado when he couldn't get traction on a large rock at a narrow part of the trail, he tried so hard not to slip and fall and when he finally realized he wasn't going to make it he just sort of laid down. I literally stepped out of my stirrups to the side, unhurt. This could have been so bad for both of us and yet there he was, this big horse giving it all he had so that I wouldn't get hurt. When I met Todd 5 years ago it just seemed natural that he would ride Big-un, they were a perfect fit. This started the denial period. For the next two and a half years I playfully argued with Todd that Big-un was "my" horse, Todd stood firm on the joint property rule of marriage and said he was his horse too. Finally, just last fall, I decided that Todd could be Big-un's owner and I would be content knowing that Todd loved him as much as I did, if not more. Thinking back, Checotah was Todd's first horse and that is something that you never have twice. When Todd and I started dating in 1998, Checotah was 3.5 years old and they literally learned together. We rode in Missouri, Kansas and Colorado and if you scroll through the pictures on our website you will most often see Todd riding Big-un, if he wasn't riding him it meant I was.
We will never own another horse like Big-un and we are both lucky to have had the time with him that we did.
Andy's Sweetpeach (Peaches) was our girly-girl. She was an elegant mare, with such a beautiful head and hip. Most people who saw her thought she was a gelding, she was half Quarter Horse and half Appaloosa and she came to me as a two year old in January of 1997. The trip to get her was on a very cold day and 8 inches of snow had fallen the night before. We had to load another horse on the trailer to get her loaded and when we took the other horse off she was not happy. When we got her to the stable, Checotah was waiting and watched as we turned her out in the adjoining pasture. After a couple days I put them out together and they ran around the pasture four or five times before settling down. From that day on Peaches would always watch out for Big-un.
On the trails she was great, after 5 years we could do anything and go anywhere on her. She was famous for finding wildlife while we were trail riding. I can't remember the number of quail covey's she spooked up, there was a wild turkey (that's a funny story), a fawn (she almost stepped on it before it blasted out from under her nose into the woods) and the deer we saw at Heritage park.
Peaches was our girl, we had hoped to breed her when we got our own place, now though we are just left with our memories of her. She was my horse of choice until Bubba came home.
Bubba was my first horse. I got him when he was 5 years old in 1988. The places I have been on this horse are numerous. We started out in Massachusetts, that is where we used to live. From there we traveled to Maine, Western Massachusetts and Cape Cod. The trips to the Cape were especially fun because we went riding at Sandy Neck beach. When I moved to Kansas City in 1994 I left Bubba behind with a friend. It was our understanding that she would keep Bubba and that when she no longer could I would come and get him. We got that call in April of 2001. Todd and I were getting married in June and told her we would come pick Bubba up on our honeymoon. Our original honeymoon plans had been to head West with Big-un and Peaches to go riding in the Rockies. Instead we found ourselves heading East. We brought Bubba home to Kansas at the end of June and by October of that year we were riding in Colorado with him. A friend remarked that if our horses had odometers Bubba's would surely have gone past 100,000 miles. All the years I was competing in competitive trail rides with him and the miles we rode at the beach and finally the miles up in the Rockies. Bubba was such a great horse, his breeding was unknown but he had a huge heart. There was never something I asked of him that he wouldn't try. We rode in parades, I harnessed him up and hooked him to a carriage, he did "pony-rides" at my cousins 1st birthday party, I rode him bareback, english and western and he was the first of our horses that I tried my australian saddle on.
In all my life I hope to have a relationship with another horse similar to that which I shared with Bubba. We just understood each other, trusted each other and truly cared for one another. I will miss him greatly.
We are comforted in knowing that Big-un, Peaches and Bubba are on their last trail ride, the water is plentiful, the grass is emerald green, there are no rocks on the trail and at the end is a lake that they can swim in, they loved to go swimming.
See you on the trails!