By: Erin Hanley

I was almost eleven years old standing in a sale barn wearing shorts and sandals. I don’t want to imagine what those old time regulars were saying about the “city kid.” I had rarely entertained the idea of getting a horse, but I knew that both my mom and dad grew up with horses. So, my parents decided that getting me a horse was a good way to preserve their youth.

My only request was that the horse had to be “blonde.” I had ridden a horse a few times on trail rides at summer camp but I was not yet well versed in horse lingo. I found out later that “blonde” horses were palominos. I happened to bring my best friend along on my sale barn adventure and in between girl chatter my dad bought a horse. To my amazement it was relatively easy, make a nod of the head or flick of the hand and you’ve bought yourself a horse.

My friend and I set out to take a look at this horse that my dad happened upon in our local sale barn. We strolled through the numbered corrals and came upon him. He was beautiful with a long flowing flaxen mane and tail and a shining sorrel coat. My first impression of him was of a shiny new penny, so his name became Copper. I had to admit he was a sight but he wasn’t “blonde”, much to my disappointment. My dad reassured me that my horse would be blonde and this one was for my mom.

We set off to the sale ring where there was a blonde horse just going through. All I could say was, “She’s blonde”! So, Dad bought her. I named her Candy, she looked kind of like a caramel or butterscotch piece of candy.

We took them to a friend’s barn and got them settled in before my mom got off work to inspect our purchases. I couldn’t figure out why Copper was a cranky little guy pinning his ears and charging at the stall when I walked by. I soon figured it out when Mom got there. Much to her surprise Dad had bought an unbroken, two-year old stallion for her. She was furious but couldn’t be too mad because it reminded her of her youth taming such wild beasts.

Candy was supposed to be a well broke kids horse but my first experience with her was nothing of the sort. She jumped around, seemed not to know what a bit was or anything of the sort, and needless to say, she scared the life out of me. I refused to ride her ever again. I had decided right there and then that she was not the horse for me and that palominos were evil and I would not or ever will ride one again, and I haven’t.

For the next several weeks I came into my own with a friend’s ponies Champ and Shadow. Much to everyone’s surprise I was quite a natural horsewoman. The only problem area I encountered was cinching a saddle; my weak city kid arms couldn’t get the cinch tight for the life of me. I had to lasso someone to help me before I could ride. One day I decided that I was strong enough and cinched the saddle by myself, and when I started to lope the pony, the saddle went underneath him along with me, but that’s another story.

My mom had Copper gelded within a week of buying him and was working diligently on taming him. After he was gelded he became a perfect gentleman. Mom broke him out and got the attention of several local horse people. Copper was quick, willing to please and quite handsome. A local trainer convinced my mom that Copper was a nice horse and we should show him. So, he began riding him and giving my mom lessons. They came along nicely and Copper was indeed coming into his own too.

I was getting sick of riding those ponies which were becoming rank and knew how to get my goat. So, I pleaded with my mom one day to let me ride Copper. From the first time I rode him I fell in love with him. There was no way anyone was going to get me on those ponies again or off him. My mom and I both started taking lessons on Copper and the trainer rode him also. I’m surprised that horse made it, but he was broke all right.

I was falling in love with him more and more every day and the trainer saw potential in us. He was building a brand new, fancy barn across from the one where we boarded our horses. When the barn was finished I moved Copper over there to his new home, which was a lap of luxury. I worked off Copper’s board and training riding horses, cleaning stalls, cleaning everything and being the right hand girl for the trainer. My every waking minute was at the barn. I groomed Cop for an hour or more a day and he really was a shiny penny. I took lessons weekly and gained experience from riding the training horses too. The trainer thought I was ready to show.

Our first show was a disaster. Cop turned out to be a basket case when away from home and he never did get over all of his fright. We never gave up though. We just took each day as it came.

I was fourteen by then and through my troubled adolensence, Copper was my best friend. He didn’t make fun or talk back; he listened without interrupting, and he never made me fell inferior. Cop was always there when I had a bad day and needed to cry on his shoulder. When friends were backstabbing and betraying I would go to the barn and ride or groom my pain away. He was my pride and joy and my best friend. I took pride in his well being. I felt that he was proof that I was worth something to the world. He was well fed, exercised, groomed, trained, and happy all because of me.
He was the best horse in the finest barn in town because of me.
I eventually grew into a well-adjusted teenager, not quite so horse crazy, and began to think about selling Copper. I wanted to pass on his teachings to another little girl trying to find out who she is and just needs a little help from a really good friend.

Tags: Amazing Horse Story, Cute Horse Stories, Emotional stories, Horse 2 Heart, nice inspiring Horse Stories

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This entry was posted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 at 4:42 am and is filed under Cute Horse Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.