Saturday, October 17, 2009

Meet Cheyenne





Meet Cheyenne:
Quarab Grade Mare
14 hands
Sorrel [Flaxen mane and tail]
Aged: 23

I've owned Cheyenne for 19 years, or should I say, we've had one heck of a wonderful relationship for 19 years. I've had a relationship longer with her than either of my marriages. [I'm not knocking being married!]

I bought her as a 4 year old Green Broke horse. I was Green Broke at the time also. [I'd grown up with an uncle who trained horses, but was not an accomplished trainer or rider at the time.]

Chey and I learned everything together, we made mistakes, we made headway. We did what seemed to work for her and I.

Through her years, she went on Wagon Trains and was used by 4-H novice riders in the Horseless Horse Program. She and I spent countless hours riding down the back roads of Kenosha and Racine counties in WI.

She is also a very important horse. On a Wagon Train a man riding a mule named Fred came by and told me what a beautiful horse I was riding...and how he thought she'd make a wonderful 'mule momma'. [Yeah, I married that fella...I promise to tell that story!]

She retired somewhat when she moved here and I began to ride mules.
However she is the momma of Sunshine who is now 11 years old, and this spring she gave birth to Sundance~~another molly mule.

Cheyenne literally floats when you ride her, her gaits are smooth and extremely comfortable. Perhaps it is the Arab half coming out in her?

In June we nearly lost Cheyenne. See: She's Worth it...

Cheyenne has never really recovered 100% from this episode and kept losing weight. We weaned her foal at 2 months~~a choice made to save Cheyenne's life.
Chey is on a special diet and is making some headway. She even tosses her head and nickers in the morning while waiting for her feed to arrive.

Sometimes she'll even shake her head and prance proudly.

Her foal, Sundance, has done extremely well and is growing like a weed.

Like the other 'aged' animals we have, she has a long and wonderful history. Of course she is pretty special to me as she is the first horse that I owned and trained in my life.

I'm pretty grateful that she tells no secrets, for we've had many over the years.
...and yes, she has made a good mule momma.
She was supposed to be at our wedding as the

Mare of Honor,
but had a date with our Jack, Bruce in Missouri.
[but that is another story...]

2 comments:

  1. All horses/mules have something to teach us and we never quit learning, but the "first horse" is the one that survived us regardless of how many mistakes we made. It sounds like Cheyenne was the one that gave you the desire to continue to ride. I can tell by your blog that she will always be very special to you.

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  2. mj~she is the cause of my many years of happiness...i can only repay her by taking wonderful care of her.

    thank you

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