She Brought Her Box

I love my dad.

I wanted Blake to have his own horse. So incredibly bad. I wanted a riding buddy, and I knew he would really enjoy having a horse. And I needed some way to get him away from them dang motorcycles. He thought about it a lot, and never really got comfortable with the thought of owning his own horse. They aren't very cheap of course. At this time, we started watching Downunder Horsemanship every Tuesday evening. It had become our new ritual. Eat dinner. Climb into bed, and watch Clinton Anderson do things with horses. To Blake, this guy made perfect sense with horses. Blake would go out and try the same methods on Vegas, and really liked the results. I know, not everybody likes the aussie, but we really enjoy him. He is a lot more entertaining and clear than a lot of other clinicians. And, I have to give him credit for giving Blake the idea of having his own horse.

I am a little roan horse.

After a few months of watching the show, Blake decided on his own that he would get his own horse. Pause. YAY! I was thinking, a nice older broke gelding, with plenty of miles. Blake was thinking, yearling filly with no training. Everyone told him no. He told himself yes. He wanted himself a little cowhorse. We scoured through craigslist and found a breeder out in Payette with a large group of yearlings for sale. Peppy San Badger bred babies. We told the lady we wanted a baby that would grow to accommodate Blake's larger stature. She told us all of them should be fine. He wasn't looking for a specific color, so we started meandering through the group. Only two little bay colts were broke enough to come up to us for a rub down. She said the others had been handled, but it really didn't look like it. In the middle of the group, I saw a little bay roan. She was the most hidden, and avoided all eye contact. I asked Blake to see which horse caught his eye. He didn't really know. I pointed out the little roan, and he automatically decided he liked her. Now, I don't know if this was because I pointed her out, or if he really did like her. We singled her out of the crowd with one other little colt in the round pen and watched her. She really really did not want to be in there with us. Her eyes were wild. And Blake loved her. The lady wanted $400 for her, and Blake agreed. She told us she would hold her for us until next weekend, and would start her papering process. Blake was excited.

I was a little under cared for.

We headed off to Clinton Anderson's Walkabout tour in Redmond, OR and it was a blast. It was so cool to see him live and I only wished it to last longer. The following weekend, we would be getting Blake's new girl. We brought out little straight load two horse and made the journey out to get her. They had her ready in the round pen, and we back the trailer up to it. We then fashioned a chute, and chased the little roan into it. She wanted to get away from us so terribly bad, she hopped right into the trailer. She looked so scared though, and I was so worried she would jump out the back on the trailer (she was loaded without being tied), so we took lead ropes and baling twine and made a spider web pattern on the back to discourage her. We were promised papers within a month, and off we went.

Let me tell you, seeing a little horse stick its head out the side of a trailer going 80mph is terribly funny. She tried to keep her eyes open, as her lips flapped in the air and mane blew straight back. He first trailer ride seemed to be really fun for her. As we pulled into the driveway, Blake's family was so excited to see his new baby, his mom reached her hand into the trailer to pet her. Bad idea. Little roan horse flipped out. I don't think he mentioned that she was untouched. And a little wild. We backed her into the round pen, her new home for the next couple of weeks. She got some hay and a drink of water and explored  I told Blake that having this horse felt like opening pandora's box. And the name Pandora stuck. What a scared little horse.