Tough Decisions and Other Choices

Last night after yet another rejection from a semi-local boarding facility, I spoke with my brother, who is my main sounding board for The Dream. I was quickly running out of options and losing sight of a way forward. There seemed no way to make this dream work. We talked for a couple of hours and he encouraged me by saying, “When the road you’re on runs into a roadblock, take another direction!” He’s ex-Army and knows about roadblocks and rerouting and finding a way.

If it were up to me, I’d put up corrals in our backyard and keep the horses there until they’re gentled enough to board out. But my husband would never allow that, and it is tiny, so finding a place to keep them locally is critical to the success of my journey. Barring that, it all falls apart.

I went to bed last night exhausted from the stress, unable to see what that direction could possibly look like. After a couple of sleepless hours, I decided what I needed to do. It wasn’t ideal, but it was a possibility. So, this morning, I paced and cleaned the house until a reasonable hour and made a call….

 And just like that, I’ve done it! I’ve found a way to work it out so I can adopt a Devil’s Garden horse! A lot has changed in my plans; I cannot find a single place that will let me keep Mustangs locally. They are all fine until they find out that I’ll need to put up (at my expense) six-foot high pole pens until the horses are gentled enough to catch in a corral. As soon as they realize these are “wild” horses, they’re out. I understand that, but it’s still frustrating. A wild mustang is no more dangerous than an abused Thoroughbred, or an unhandled Quarter Horse. Scared is scared. Any horse can be safely kept if its needs are met with understanding and compassion. Abused and unhandled horses are my wheelhouse.

So, I called Stacy Garner from Gentled Hearts Stable, and she has a stall I can rent for a month or two until I can get the horse gentled enough for standard fencing. It’s going to kill my budget, but it’s the only way I can see to get this whole dream going, and—bonus—Stacy is an amazing person. It’s a lot further from home than I wanted at about a 1.5-hour drive so in order to get this horse gentled as quickly as possible I will have to stay in the area. That might mean camping out in the cold Pennsylvania winter, but I’ll do what I have to if it means making the dream come true.

I have my eyes set on one particular mare—a palomino that looks so much like Amber, who was the best horse that ever walked the earth. To say that Amber was a people horse would be an understatement. She was all about taking care of her person from the day we brought her home and started to teach her all the things a horse should know. She too, was untrained when we got her. But she had been raised in a human setting, and she loved people. Horses, on the other hand—not so much. She was every bit an Alpha mare, even taking on horses five hands taller than she was, and winning! We had her from the time she was three until she passed at the age of thirty, just a few months after our son died. I pray they are together now.

 I know that looking like Amber won’t make this Devil’s Garden mare into the next Amber. In fact, I rather expect they might be about as opposite as can be, but I know I will love her just as much as I did Amber. You don’t discriminate between horses because they are different any more than you do among your children. And I’ve mentioned before that I’m really looking for that bond that mares seem so much more capable of than geldings or stallions.

The bad news in all this is that I can’t afford to get two ungentled horses now. The boarding expense and distance from home are just too great.

However, Stacy has a tall bay mare that we had considered very briefly when we first met her about a month ago. She is still available and is pretty laid back, so we might still get her for Brent. She isn’t the black that I wanted to get for him, but at this point, I’ll be thrilled if we can find a way to work out two horses at all. She is a BLM horse, so we’ll have to do the adoption and reassignment process through them before we can get her.

Another goal is to come up with the $200 for the Gentled Hearts Stable Devil’s Garden Challenge show. Or at least, I seriously want to do so. Payment is due by December 15, but the show isn’t until next September. I definitely want to do that with my DG mare (if I get one—they may be all gone before my turn), and would also like to do it with my second horse (the one that will be Brent’s), but not sure I can swing that financially. We’ll see how it works out.

On another note, and also last night—my brother (David) found a perfect route for our coast-to-coast ride! More on this exciting news soon!