July 18th, 2007.
I received a call earlier that day from the barn owner. Thinking nothing of it, I answered the phone and wondered if someone needed me to come feed that evening. What I heard was worse. Much worse.
"Laura, someone is coming to look at her. To look at Ruby. If they buy her, she will be going to North Carolina."
You know that awful sinking feeling? Like the floor has just shifted under you feet and you can't find your balance? Imagine standing on a frozen lake and realizing the ice is shattering beneath you; it's spidery web of cracks propagating in all directions. This does not even skim the surface of how I felt, but it will do. This pony, who had become my friend, who I had worked with, understood, and bonded to was going to be sold to some snotty little show brat. No. No, I would not let that happen. Even if I had to tell the buyer's family that Ruby was a monster who ate small children...I would not let her go.
I arrived at the barn in record time. In a sort of daze, I wandered over to her stall. I opened the door. She was there, waiting for me, softly nickering as she always did when she saw me. At that moment, the truth of the situation hit me- I could not, WOULD not lose her. I cried.
Despite my pleas in the past to have this horse, and the many refusals my parents gave, I had to try.
"Dad. I need you to come to the barn. Someone is coming to take Ruby...I can't lose her. She means the world to me. I will do ANYTHING you ask if you can get her, for me. I will pay all her bills, even if it means working all the time. Even if it means giving up my other hobbies. Even if it means I have to eat oatmeal for the rest of my life. I NEED her."
I won't go into the details of why this swayed him over. We females are very hard on ourselves and each other...to the point that, I believe, every one of us has a dark spot in our lives. Ruby kept me afloat in my darkest time. In a sense, my parent's owed her for this.
My dad wrote the check right after he arrived.
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