Ever since my first pony ride as a toddler, I have loved horses. Until I was able to be around them in my teen years, I would draw them on paper just to be with them. I didn’t think there was another person on the planet who love horses as much as I did. It wasn’t that I just liked horses, I truly loved them and had such passion for them that there was always an ache in my heart if I couldn’t be around them and it was like taking in oxygen anytime I drove passed a pasture of horses in Lexington.
Mama used to pull to the side of the road and let us give them apples.
Now that I operate a small ranch a mile up the road from me, I get to be with horses every day. My husband and I bought a Tobiano colt and a Buckskin filly (both Tennessee Walkers) back in March of this year and they will be yearlings in a couple of months.
When I lived in Chattanooga and had Smokey to care for, he was eight when I met him and had been a show horse. He was the kindest, most gentle horse on the planet and I trusted my grandbabies on him. My older grandchildren loved him, but my youngest granddaughter miss Ellie Cheyenne who was only two at the time had that gleam in her eye that I remember having. She loved Smokey and was not the least bit afraid of him.
Smokey never spooked, he came when I called him and he loved when I sang to him. I remember singing him to sleep once while grooming him and he lay down right in his stall with me. That’s trust!
Legend, my colt and Suede, Jason’s filly have been very different to be around than a trained eight-year-old gelding. Our babies have not been broke – or for that matter- ANYTHING. They know nothing.
When I say “whoa” they have no clue what that means. I have had to train them little by little to understand my directions as I teach them words with those directions. Since they were six months old, I have been teaching them the basics with just ‘conditioning’ them by getting them used to touch, walking alongside of me, getting used to the water hose for a bath and letting me lift their feet.
The next step was working with them in the round pen as I began lunging them. They both prefer moving counterclockwise and get a little confused when trying the other direction. I also have someone beginning work with them for what I may not know to teach them. So far, training has been going well.
When my son Andrew and his family moved to the ranch house a few months ago it was a big help to have someone who would be at the ranch when we couldn’t be and, to do the things we could not do. Andrew keeps the pastures healthy and thriving for our horses.
Ellie Cheyenne, now four-years-old, has loved living there and I believe I have met my match when I see her love for horses. It is that same passion I have and her heart beats with ‘hoofbeats’.
Her little heart will break if she cannot be around them in some way. She is small and has a healthy fear knowing to be cautious and stay with a grown up, but she is not afraid to pet them or to ride them.
Of course while our ‘littles’ are not yet broken she does not get on them, but when our boarders would let her sit on their horses or we went to ride at my friend Linda’s (who has six horses on her farm) then Ellie Cheyenne was excited to ride.
She not only wanted to get on the horse and ride, but she wanted to ride by herself! I remember that same feeling. When I was her age my Mama and Daddy took us to the county fairs and would let us ride the ponies. I always wished they would let me ‘do it myself’ instead of being led around the ring. I had no idea at that time, that I didn’t know how to ride, I just believed that the horse and I were friends and understood each other and I could do it.
It wasn’t until I was thrown off an unbroken horse in my teenage years that I learned I still had a lot to learn. Ellie Cheyenne will learn that too, but what I love about her is she believes in herself and she believes in the horse. It is beautiful to watch the two hearts bond when she is around a horse.
Being more Western-style than English, we have gone from having four boarders (who rode English) down to having only one boarder (who has retired her eventing horse) and she doesn’t mind our western ways. It is a challenging experience to have boarders if your riding-styles and your way of thinking are different, but we have made good changes and continuing to make the ranch like we want it and we love the horse and owner who board with us right now.
For the time we had more horses boarding with us, we had a ranch hand named Taylor who would feed the horses, turn them out and clean their stalls. Now that it is just our horses and one boarder, I can take care of that, but Taylor will still work with our horses when we train them.
Taylor is a barrel racer and we have gone to a few of her races in town to cheer her on. The last one we went to, we took Andrew, my daughter in-law, Stephanie and Ellie Cheyenne.
At first, Ellie was not content to just sit in the bleachers. She thought she should be riding the horses herself! We had to explain to her that it was a competition and we were only there to root for the horses/riders and hope they did well in their time.
Ellie Cheyenne learned what the course was about and what the horses were supposed to do and she got on board with all her heart and rooted for every horse as they ran the course around the barrels, “Go horsie, Go! I know you can do it!” she sang out.
Each time she would chant, her little heart was in it for every horse. She cared about the horse and I could tell she was riding each horse in her mind. We all want to see Ellie Cheyenne grow up to barrel race …well all of us except for maybe her mom. Actually, I think she is okay about it, but of course a bit nervous at the idea when we mention it.
But anyone can see that Ellie Cheyenne is a horse-girl. When Taylor would come out and feed, Ellie Cheyenne never missed a beat in helping her! She knew what each horse was supposed to get in their bucket and she could muck a stall as good as any ranch hand! She was not just a ‘little girl in the way’ – she really knew how to do it!
Seeing her grunt and sweat trying to lift the heavy fork full of poo, I bought her a child-size gardening set with rakes and shovels and a big pale for her to have her own ‘mucking tools’ for her size and she does even better now. She knows how to find the pee spots and get it up without mixing it with the dry shavings and she also finds the buried nuggets!
It has blessed my heart to see how much her heart is in it that she doesn’t just want to be in the barn to pet the pretty horses – but to also work. I didn’t know a little four-year-old girl could push a man-sized wheel barrow, but she can! The belief she has in herself to do what it takes to be a part of it all is amazing to watch. If she comes across something that is beyond her limits, she is okay to take a step back, but she never gives up and she is always willing to try.
After mucking stalls with me one day, she wanted to ride on the tractor with me to take the manure off. As we spread manure around the fish hatchery up the road, we must have run over a yellow jacket’s nest because one landed on her little neck and as I tried to shoo the pest off her neck, it had stung her.
She never cried, but told me it itched. We got back to the ranch and her Mama put sting relief on it. We found she wasn’t allergic to yellow jackets and also how brave she is.
Oh, she is still a little girl and will have a normal crying spell at times, but she is definitely a cowgirl at heart and I believe when the little thing is quietly sleeping… if you listen closely you will hear the hoofbeats of her heart clip-clopping along.
jen@jenjeffrey.com