Don't Blame Us.... Its Genetic!!

For as long as I can remember, my mom has been feeding anything that she can buy food for.  She insists that the wild birds NEED her to feed them.  She keeps cat food, water, AND a litter box in the old house for the stray cats.  Cats that she will catch, place, spay, and neuter.  She allowed us to bring home and feed stray dogs, bummer calves, and pretty much anything else someone would give the Wyatt girls.  I say she allowed us, because my dad has more sense than the rest of us...  Although he doesn't want anything to suffer, he really doesn't want to run a soup kitchen for the neighborhood animals.

So knowing this about my mom, it should come as no surprise that Mindy and I want to save every other horse we see.  Mindy also has an uncanny knack of buying horses that need far more than the owners tell her they do.  Twice she has bought horses off of pictures and video that are on the other side of the States to have the arrive under weight, unkept, and needing more than a little riding.  Both times the owners tell her crazy stories, stop answering her e-mails, and then basically fall off the face of the earth.  The first horse this happened with is now with the breeder of her good barrel mare Breeze.  The second one, now called Stewart is headed to our good friend Julies horse for some work and possible resale. 

So Stewart is leaving and my sister is telling her tale of being screwed to a good friend of hers, whose daughter is rodeoing in college this year.  Her daughter's boyfriend is a roper and she was attending a roping with him and witnessed a snot nose brat have a hissy fit on her horse.  It wasn't the first time she had seen this girls performance, but this time the horse blew and blew big.  She overheard the girl telling her boyfriend that she was done and this mare was headed to the kill pen.

The daughter went to the sale yard and found the mare in the kill pen.  She made a deal with one of the people at the yard and bought the mare before she even hit the sales ring.  The papers were at the yard, but the guy refused to release them because the horse hadn't went through the ring.  Whatever.  At Thanksgiving she hauled the mare home along with her rodeo string.  When she left to go back to school, the mare stayed behind.

Mindy's friend says I just don't know what she was thinking!  We have two really nice horses for sale right now, we don't need a horse that's been banged on and dropped at the sale yard.  So on her way home, Mindy says I think we need this horse.  I said well have you seen her.  Nope, but I will go and look she says.  I told her that I could take Sally no problem if she needed space, but if she really liked the mare, I'd take the mare also.  Do I need another horse, uh- no.  Does Mindy need another horse, uh- no.  Did her friends need another horse, uh- no.  But hey her friends daughter saw something in the mare that made her decide that she needed to make sure she didn't get on a truck to Canada.

When Mindy went over and looked at the little mare she was blanketed.  She pulled the blanket and found two large saddle sores on her withers.  Hmmm, wonder why the mare was having troubles?  Yeah, us neither.  Mindy took a couple of pictures and texts them to me.  She looked a little long in the back, but otherwise conformationally good.  I call and Mindy says, Nikki- she is Midori with two eyes.  14.2-14.3hh and now she yours.  Merry Christmas.  ( :  I said, she ours.  Thanks!  Mindy reimbursed them their rescue costs and now as soon as we can get all of our ducks in a row she'll land at my house.

Until then, Mindy will evaluate her saddle sores.  Check different saddle fits as well as seeing what pad may or may not help.  Once she feels the mares sores are good enough to tolerate it she will ride her.  And as soon as we can get it all worked out she will land here.  After that, who knows.... but I'll keep you posted!!  LOL!!

As a side note, watching the NFR...barrels on right now!!  Several mares running!!  Running hard!  I love it!!  Mare power!!  Mare currently leading!!  Woot woot!!