Love at First Sight?

"Riding is too dangerous!"

Well, that was the excuse my parents used as to why I was not allowed to ride horses. I begged, I pleaded, I kicked, and I screamed...for years. They didn't budge.

Fast-forward about 10 years (no really, I begged for a horse for my birthday/Christmas pretty much every year after that birthday ride). I had my drivers license in one hand, car keys in the other, and drove to the first barn I could find! It happened to be a decent-sized riding facility called Wintergate Farm, about half an hour from the house. Here, I met my first trainer, tacked up my first horse, cleaned my first stall, and had my first fall (and first injury- two back fractures). I was what we considered a "working student"-I cleaned stalls, fed horses, and did barn chores to buy myself riding time. For a few years, this was the way things went: work, ride, school, (and marching band). I rode anything and everything I was allowed to sit on- thoroughbreds, warmbloods, arabians, and those nasty little ponies with a reputation of being "dumpers." At this point in my life I was just happy to be riding. I knew horses were expensive and I knew I couldn't possibly afford one...but one can always dream right?

I arrived at the barn about thirty minutes before my lesson (as I typically did to give myself time to catch whichever horse was unfortunate enough to be stuck with me and to tack up). My riding buddy and best friend, Ann Turner, ran up the driveway yelling "We have new ponies! We have new ponies!" We hurried to the outdoor ring to see them- five new ponies for the school program: an arabian (Magic), a chestnut appaloosa (Brody), a palomino quarter horse (Izzy), a chestnut quarter horse (Houston), and...

There she was- a large pony buckskin, tossing her head and throwing some bucks. She was cute, despite the fact that 1. I much preferred horses to ponies and 2. buckskin wasn't really my thing. But damn, she was ADORABLE and had the biggest brown eyes I had ever seen. I, of course, went to my trainer and asked if I could ride this feisty little pony. Her response: :"Um, are you really sure you want to ride that one?" ABSOLUTELY!

                                             A picture of Ruby the fall after her arrival.