Stella is a 4 year old Appendix QH mare with a small stature but a lot of attitude. In 2009 I knew I needed to start looking for another horse to fill Ernie's shoes. I had no idea what I wanted: schoolmaster, retrain project, youngster? It was completely coincidental that Stella and I ended up paired together, but it couldn't have been a better match. I bought her as a 2 year old from a woman I worked for and the bonding process began right there. She is quick, smart, possesses the best temperament of any horse I've ever worked with but still let's me know that, hey, she's a redheaded mare, and nothing comes all that easy!
LBM started off with the name "Nel", which I quickly scrapped and opted for something sweeter and more feminine to match her kind (but feisty) disposition. I swore I'd never own a mare, but Stella has grown on me and firmly rooted herself in my life to the point where I know I will never be able to part with her. She's progressing in her training quickly and my hope is she'll be making appearances in the dressage show ring in the next couple years.
Jam Session ("Ernest"): 3/14/80 - 6/27/11
Ernie left this world on June 27th, 2011 on a beautiful summer afternoon. The sun was out, and there was a cool breeze coming from the north. He enjoyed a day out at pasture with Stella, plenty of grooming and hand grazing and his favorite treat, a bag of barbecue Fritos.
There are so many words to describe the incredible spirit he embodied, but one comes to mind every time I think of him: resilience. What he suffered in the 11 years between his first owner and when I met him I don't know, but his condition when I got to him said everything. He was mistrusting, nervous, self-protective. He would give you the up and down as you approached him, wary of your hands especially. I can't prove he was abused, but everything about him screamed it.
For months we worked on trusting. I was inexperienced and naive and easily frustrated, but he stuck with me through everything. He began a new life as a wonderfully talented dressage horse. He blossomed right before my eyes, a beautiful deep red-bay with a heart as big as they come. He came with his quirks: a chronic weaver, tirelessly herd bound. However, many of his other issues were caused by people: he had ulcers and a terrible case of cold back. Yet his desire to please, even when he was terrified (if not for no reason, as he often was) overpowered it all.
He came through 5 homes. He lived through unknown abuses. He spent most of his life in some level of pain. He suffered two "career ending" injuries, he went missing once, and when he finally came to school with me, the sigh of relief as he walked off the trailer was enough to cloud my eyes with tears.
I have lost a piece of myself in his passing, but I am more whole than I was before he entered my life. I still hear him whinny in the distance, and I feel his presence in the barn. He is always there with me in some respect. Physically he is gone, but the lessons he taught me will be with me until I meet him again.
March 14th, 1980 to June 27th, 2011. It is with immense love and honor that I knew and cared for him.
Show Name: Jam Session Barn Name: Ernest/Ernie Registered Name (Jockey Club): Krohn of My Own Sire: Dr. Krohn (Arts and Letters x Lady Swaps) Dam: Princess Paulette (Moonlight Express x Warewup) Breed: Thoroughbred Color: bay Markings: Roaning on right front pastern, white splash on face over right eye Height: 15.3 DOB: March 14th, 1980
DOD: June 27th, 2011 Disciplines: Dressage with the occasional hack
Show Name: AMS Boudicca Barn Name: Stella Sire: Diamond MajorLeaguer Dam: Artful Dreamer Breed: Appendix (TBxQH) Color: chestnut Markings: "longhorn" on muzzle, white coronary band on LH Height: 15.2 DOB: April, 2007 Disciplines: Dressage in training
Horsemanship: the practice of working with horses. Survivorship: the state or condition of being a survivor. Lifemanship: the art of getting through it all. If you're taking in breath, you're practicing lifemanship. Each of us has our own ways of finding our path. In my particular case, horses have played a tremendous guiding role in helping me understand, well, everything. Along your trek, dark days are inevitable. Whether you become aware of it or not, you bear the scars of trauma in some form. If you're lucky, you find a way to channel all that emotional junk into a (dys?)functional way of being. I'm blessed enough to have discovered genus equus caballus. We all could learn a thing or two from a horse. So welcome to the journey. Hope you brought your ridin' boots.
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