Win tickets for family of four to the cookout!

To add your comment – look for the word “comment” under the tags next to Permalink and Print!

We look forward to reading your stories!

Shelly and Miami

My story is short but it sure was something big. good.gif
Once upon a time on a bright crisp Thanksgiving day. A very sleepy lady(me) had just gotten out of her warm bed. When all of the sudden she heard her phone ring (Ting a ling)and on the other end was her neighbor.Saying you have got to see this. Come up to the barn and see what we have. Well off the lady (me) went. It was a beautiful sight to wake up to see a new born colt with her mother just make it into this world on a beautiful Thanksgiving day. It was a Thanksgiving Blessing for sure. It also was the first time in my whole life to see this kind of miracle.
Story is short but sweet.

(See the picture of the foal here:
http://www.paulding.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=224588&pid=2936803&st=0&#entry2936803 )

This is more entertaining than it is “heartwarming” but it may help someone get a laugh. When I was 6yrs old my family lived on a horse farm in Cartersville. We had 4 of our own horses, including a beautiful Black Stallion named “Tag”. Because we had a huge barn and several of my parents friends had horses, we boarded some extras. Living on a farm at that age was the best!! My mom’s friend came to visit and asked if it would be ok to take me on her mare bareback but on a lead rope. We were at the front of our property which was about 20 acres (and sloped downhill toward the barn) the horse started grazing on some grass and so my mom’s friend let go of the lead rope. Well, as soon as she did the horse looked up and TOOK OFF!! She was running in a full gallop toward the barn and my mom’s friend was chasing after her. We had a big sunroom off the back of the house and my mom and older sister were in there and here we came, flying past. My mom & sis didn’t know if they should be scared for me or laugh at the owner running behind us! I had no fear and just waved and was grinning from ear to ear!! When the horse made it to the barn and couldn’t go any further she started grazing again. My mom, sis and the owner of the horse caught up with us and made sure I was ok. I asked if we could do it again b/c it was so much fun and my parents never let our horses run when I was riding! Unfortunately, I never rode her again. Some of my best memories are with my horses when I was little and having sleepovers in my hayloft. My dad ended up getting rid of them all (traded one for a corvette) and I haven’t had the pleasure of owning one myself…YET. I still LOVE the smell of sweet feed and go sniff it when we go to Tractor Supply! I know, I’m weird!

When I was eight my grandmmother was in a nursing home and every sunday we went to visit her. The parking lot of the nursing home backed up to a farm and there were 4 horses there grazing. I walked over to the fence, and this beautiful brown horse trotted over and let me pet him. I called him scout cause I was a fan of the lone ranger series. Every sunday we went there it was like he knew I was coming, and waited by the fence for me. I would sit for hours and just talk and pet him. After 3 months my grandmother died in the nursing home and I said Goodbye to scout for the last time. I went home and always wanted a horse of my own, but I lived in the city, and I said one day I will have my own farm with horses. That never happened and I have never been around a horse again. But I will never forget that horse!!!

We own Thoroughbred race horses and had a horse called Pete’s Diner. Pete was injured although not severe was not able to be a racehorse anymore. After a couple of months of being turned out to just be a horse I received a call from my trainer stating that someone wanted to talk to me about Pete. The next day I received a call from a handicap riding facility inquring about what I was going to do with Pete. I expressed a little concern with Pete in this enviroment as thoroughbred race horses tend to be a little high strung. The people assured me that since Pete was gelded that they though they could use him. I donated Pete to the facility. After about a week I received a voicemail from them with a frantic tone. My first thought was poor Pete didnt work out and they want me to take him back. When I returned the call that wasnt the case. As it turn out a 4 year old girl confined to a wheelchair was new to the program was touring and walked by Pete. They said that Pete walked over to her laid his head in her lap for what seemd like an enterinity letting her pet and do what ever she wanted to him. When the girl returned the next day they put her up on Petes back!!!! I was told he was a perfect gentleman and almost acted like a trained handicap horse. That was 2 years ago and Pete and the now 6 year old girl can not be seperated!!!!!!

We own Thoroughbred race horses and had a horse called Pete’s Diner. Pete was injured although not severe was not able to be a racehorse anymore. After a couple of months of being turned out to just be a horse I received a call from my trainer stating that someone wanted to talk to me about Pete. The next day I received a call from a handicap riding facility inquring about what I was going to do with Pete. I expressed a little concern with Pete in this enviroment as thoroughbred race horses tend to be a little high strung. The people assured me that since Pete was gelded that they though they could use him. I donated Pete to the facility. After about a week I received a voicemail from them with a frantic tone. My first thought was poor Pete didnt work out and they want me to take him back. When I returned the call that wasnt the case. As it turn out a 4 year old girl confined to a wheelchair was new to the program was touring and walked by Pete. They said that Pete walked over to her laid his head in her lap for what seemd like an enterinity letting her pet and do what ever she wanted to him. When the girl returned the next day they put her up on Petes back!!!! I was told he was a perfect gentleman and almost acted like a trained handicap horse. That was 2 years ago and Pete and the now 6 year old girl can not be seperated!!!!!!

We really, really want these tickets. Ginger asked… wait, told me to tell one of my childhood stories.

I was maybe about 5 years old and was feeding our two horses. The grain was in their dishes in the stalls and they were happily chomping away. I must’ve gotten distracted for a few minutes because my timing was a little off. I would usually put the grain in the stalls, unlatch the doors, then walk out to the paddock with a couple of leaves of hay and drop them in two separate piles. Well, when I went to unlatch the stalls, they were ready to get to the hay. I was walking out of the barn and noticed I had two large animals on my heels. I sped up a little, needless to say, so did they. I sped up a little more and a little more until all three of us were in a full run. My mother was watching outside the window and yelled, “Throw the hay! Throw the hay!”

The hay went up in the air, the horses came to a screeching halt and I kept running. What a great way to grow up!

My other story is about a horse named Nino. He was a big horse and headstrong. He was a super smart horse. He used to work the latch on his stall and get out. My mom stayed one time and watched him because she couldn’t figure out how he was doing it. He was great to ride but everytime you got close to the barn he would take off. We used to say “Watch Nino… when he smells the barn he is going to take the bit and run full out.” That horse was amazing to ride. That being said he also liked to bite. He bit one sister and she wouldn’t get near a horse again. Laura the student that lived with us used to say “If he bites you you bite him back.” She demonstrated more than once by bitting him on the nose. He didn’t give her to many problems. But the rest of us….? So one day when I though I was all growed up I took him out for a ride by myself. I shouldn’t have because the other horses were loose in the pasture. Everything was going fine until I got to where they were grazing. Nino took off at full speed and then demon that he was came to a dead stop. You guessed it I sailed right over his head. My dad who happened to see it out of the house window came running. When he asked if I broke anything I said YES! He asked me what and I said……”My fingernails.” Boy was he not happy with me. I gave him a heart attack. To this day I don’t know why I said that. They were broke from the fall but I’m not even a girly girl.

This one I will always remember like it was yesterday. So I had to tell it.

I grew up in Booger Hollow. With a name like that it had to be in the boonies…. right. Right! We had horses growing up and a student at Shorter College that lived with us took care of the horses. I remember taking one of our mares to be bred. It was to a stallion named Zaul and he was a National Champion. The lady had peacocks that displayed their tails. I was about 8. The foal was born on April Fools and we named him Shewal, he was 3/4 Arabian and that means April in Araibic. I remember going to school and saying my horse had a baby. Everyone went yeah April Fools but it wasn’t. We kept him a stallion and trained him ourselves.
We went on many riding trips. The farm was about 250 acreas so there was plenty of room to run. Sometimes we went across to the neighbors land that was open fields or down the dirt roads. Some of the best times that I remember was cutting loose and letting them run. I remember our corral and that we had and a little Shetland Pony. My mom would have the Girl Scouts over and let everyone ride. My dad still has a few horses but they are mostly horses that have health issues. He lets them graze and keeps an eye on them.

my favorite horse ride was when i went and rode a horse named bucky in illinois i was with my mom,granny,my two sisters,and my brother.When I went i got on bucky and rode on him for about an hour and it was very fun and i love horses very much and i only rode about three horses in my whole life thats why i want these tickets alot because i have six people that live with me and we cant efored it.