For as long as I can remember, I’d wanted a horse to call my own. It began as a simple dream that steadily grew into a desire that had me begging my parents every birthday and Christmas. Only to be met with disappointment when I was told the reasons why we couldn’t have one.
My parents did attempt to grant me my wish in other ways, such as taking me to riding schools and stables. It was at one such school that I met Blue. An aging but beautiful leopard appaloosa who I connected with on our first ride together. The stable that owned him allowed us to lease him by the month, meaning that while they still owned him, I was able to come up and take care of him and ride him whenever I wanted.
I can remember every weekend we spent together even now; for the first time, I felt as though I had gotten my dream!
Of course, I didn’t just settle for a lease. Every day, I would ask my parents if we could buy Blue from the stable, so that I could own him myself. My father did try to purchase him from the stable several times, but they refused the offers, as Blue was a good schooling horse for inexperienced riders. And then as it tends to do, life got in the way.
One year, my parents couldn’t afford to keep the lease going. I was utterly heartbroken by the news, but my parents assured me we’d restart the lease again as soon as we could afford it. We never did, and I never saw Blue again. Later on, I would find out that my father did attempt to purchase Blue from the stable once we were in a better financial situation, but by that time the stable had sold him to another stable.
Many years passed; my grief eased as my dream settled into the back of my mind. By the time I was in my late teens, I had made peace with the thought that I’d never have a horse of my own. That was until that next Christmas. My father pulled me aside and made me a deal that seemed too good to be true. He said that if I managed to lose some weight, he’d buy me a horse. Reason being, by that point, I was overweight and pushing 180 lbs. Something that worried both my parents. Naturally, I agreed to the deal, though I did think it out of character for my father to make such an offer.
Challenge accepted! Challenge conquered!
I lost 30 lbs and my father began to transform our property. Together, we cleared land for a pasture and paddock, built a stable, put up fencing and made sure that everything was ready. For my birthday that following year, my dad surprised me with Maybelle. A gorgeous black mare who was mine and mine alone. We brought her home to our new pastures, and at last my childhood dream was made a reality.
But within just a couple of months, that dream became a nightmare.
Though I knew the basics of taking care of a horse from my time with Blue, leasing a horse at a stable is a lot different from owning a horse on your own property. Namely, I was now responsible for everything that had to do with Maybelle, from feeding her to cleaning up after her messes. And horses poop a lot.
For the most part, I threw myself into the caring aspect with great enjoyment- feeding her, brushing her, and talking to her were great joys. What wasn’t enjoyable at all was cleaning her very large and spacious pasture.
For the first couple months, I was out there with a wheelbarrow and a pitchfork picking our nearly two acres of pasture and transporting the manure to a compost pile my father made on the outskirts of our property. This process would take hours, and I was often left with very little time in the day afterward.
Realizing my dilemma, my dad once again attempted to help me out. He bought a golf cart, and we attempted to use several types of drags to clean the pasture. From a chain link fence to a harrow. Attempts to use scrapers, tires, you name it…. we used it. None of them gave us the results we wanted, and I was beginning to lose hope.
Then, life once again struck. I knew it was out of character for dad to have made the deal that got me Maybelle in the first place, but I never imagined that the reason for the change in attitude was because of cancer. With the news of his diagnosis hanging over my head, it made getting out into the pasture to pick it even harder.
My dad would often help me out, but now knowing about his condition, I didn’t want him to exert himself. I was stressed out and unable to do anything about it. If this was what my dream cost… Spending most of my time and energy picking up manure, and putting my father’s already fragile health at risk…I was beginning to wonder if it was even worth it at all.
That was when my wonderful father came up with an idea that saved my dream. He literally designed and built the very first and only all-in-one equine pasture and paddock maintenance implement. All while fighting cancer and going through chemo treatments. He had always been my hero. But this cemented him in my heart forever as my Superman.
Author: Veronica Collins
(Dad helping me with Maybelle pictured below)