Update: Raquel-The Filly

Well, Raquel finally made it here after all that went on yesterday. Read the blog: It Makes Me so Mad. She will have her surgery tomorrow morning and go to her training barn tomorrow afternoon. She is the baby in the first photo and the third. She is no longer a baby and no longer bright chestnut as the picture under Buck Almighty shows. She is now pretty big and a dark liver chestnut with white socks behind.

I can't say that I ever want to deal with the other barn again. What an unprofessional way to behave, but I guess we all have our own definitions as to what a professional is. I am just relieved she is here where I can see her and make sure she is ok. I hope, if all goes well, she will be in the show ring in two years like her big brother JC (a.k.a Buck Almighty) who is also on this page many times.

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The Thrill of Breeding

When we first started riding horses, we never realized what an important part of our lives they would become. We started when my sister was 12 and I was 4. We started spending more time at the barn. We learned to groom horses, clean stalls (not a fun job) and tack the horses. Eventually, we learned to exercise horses, give lessons and take out trail rides. The trail rides were fun to do because we would always have guys come out trying to impress their girlfriends. We asked who were experienced riders so we new which people to put on which horses. Invariably, the young guys would say they were very experienced and there were two horses we knew very well. Each of these horses had their own tricks. One would always stop at the creek and duck his head. Experienced riders would catch him and there wouldn't be a problem. Inexperienced riders would end up in the creek. I can't tell you how many of these "experienced" young men ended up in the creek. It was a hoot. The other horse would turn and go back to the barn. Again, experienced riders had no problem just turning him back and he would continue to follow the group. Most of the girls of these "experienced" guys ended up finishing the trail rides by themselves as their boyfriends were back at the barn.

As time went on, my mother bought us each a horse. Our first horses were killed in a barn fire which destroyed most of the horses. A man started the barn on fire. That is my worst memory of our beginnings. Once the barn was rebuilt, mom again got us horses. Through the years we have had the good, the bad, and the really ugly. But, we have learned from each and every one of them. One horse my mother got my sister was a mare who got hurt at a very young age and was never able to trot sound after that. We didn't know what to do with her. The trainer we were with suggested we breed her as she was a mare out of Status Lovely who was a daughter of Status Symbol. That was the beginning of the rest of our lives.

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