Mama

Mama is like everyone's stereotypical mother. She is sweet, gentle, nurturing and will take care of you. However she demands respect and she occasionally tells you her opinion no matter if you want to hear it or not. Mama is an older mare who is been there done that. Like every woman, she doesn't want to talk about her age and so even though she is 20 years old, you would not guess it to look at her. She is perfectly sound and healthy and can run laps around many of our younger horses. She is a no muss - no fuss kind of mare who can be ridden in the arena or the trails with no warm up after being out to pasture for months. Standing at 14.2hh she is a great size for kids wanting to ride a real horse, or folks just wanting a shorter mount. She is safe for just about any rider and has more stop than go, which is perfect for a less confident rider who doesn't want a horse who will run off with them. She rides western and loves the trails. She will go out alone or in groups, but new horses can make her nervous. She is a very submissive horse in the herd and gets along well with her herdmates. She loads and hauls nicely. She is not a fan of the farrier, but a good hand can get her through it.

I first saw Mama in a crowded horse pen at the Hermiston sale yard in October 2014. Her pen was tucked back away from the crowds in a far corner of the auction yard amongst the condemned horses. Wearing a green tag, her fate was predestined as a loose horse to be sold by the pound for slaughter. However, I was there to document the loose horses and to try finding bidders for them using the internet before they were sold as meat. I went into the pen and the rusty gate clanged loudly behind me. Mama's head shot up, she looked straight at me and made a beeline for me right through the thick of the milling herd. Her color was eye catching and I thought someone might want her until I took a look at her teeth. Old. Very old. She stayed glued to my side while I got pictures and evaluations on horses more likely to find interested bidders and homes. Other people came and went, but Mama stuck with me and I don't know why, but it was heart-wrenching and I determined that I would not, could not, let her go to slaughter. I posted her best pictured and tried to gain attention for her, but she had no history and at her age no prospects. My friend Sabrina and I came up with a plan. We would wait and see if anyone wanted her and if not I would buy her. It was a simple plan that quickly became complicated when we were split up during the auction and could not see each other. When Mama came into the ring kill buyers were bidding, then some folks who wanted to skin her and turn her hide into a couch (they told us that), and then us. Because we couldn't see each other Sabrina and I actually ended up bidding against each other with Sabrina winning the bid. Our horses are boarded together and so Mama ended up at the pasture where I was anyways. She seemed to think she was my horse and would run to greet me and often nicker for me when I drove by, it was kinda sad. At the same time I had a nice little paint mare who did not click with me at all, but who Sabrina's daughter loved. Eventually we traded horses.