My Partner is Delight

My Partner is Delight
Heading into the great unknown

Friday, February 1, 2008

Ted: Another Introduction


I know my readers must be waiting for updated pictures of Star, but the camera needs batteries and the weather is not cooperative. Soon, very soon! They will be something to look forward to!

Ted is a buckskin Quarter horse. He was my first horse after a 20 something year hiatus from horses. In the meantime, I have been going to college, working and raising kids. He was foaled in 2002, and we used our tax refund to buy him in 2004 when he was a 2 year old.

He came to us with the name "Teddy Bear" and he was spoiled rotten. And still is.... *grin* He had a good start on round pen training and leading though, for which I was grateful.

I spent hours and hours with Ted every day. I hand grazed our front yard bare with him. I brushed him and breathed in his horsey smell. I sat at the pasture fence in a lawn chair staring at him and just soaking in everything about being in his presence.

It wasn't too long before I discovered that Ted really didn't mind my presence, but that he wasn't a very cuddly person. Brushing was fine and feeding was the best, but he enjoyed having a job to do rather than having me hugging on his head.

I felt like I couldn't make a connection to Ted, at least not the one I dreamed of and the one that I remember having with my horses as a child. For 3 months I cried. I was so sad. I thought there was something wrong with me. After waiting for two decades, here I had the horse of my dreams and I was unhappy?? What was wrong with me?

I eventually talked to my husband about how I was feeling.


In the meantime though, my Dear Husband fell in love with Ted. Ted was the first horse he had ever been around. He didn't even know that he liked horses before he met Ted!
Ted's name was promptly changed from Teddy Bear to just plain Ted, because "Guys don't call their horses girlie names."

Ted and Tom have become quite the team and they are both learning a lot together. Ted is now broke to ride and he has also been out into the hills on many trail rides. He is still rough around the edges, but with time and training this summer Tom is hoping to remedy that!

Tom and I decided to buy me a second horse, of a breed I had always wanted to own but couldn't because when I was a kid they were so expensive - an Arabian.

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