For all the bad things we hear about everyday I think it's good to hear an inspirational story about a little black and white paint horse that has beat the odds. Here is her story...
In the fall of 2010 I was online browsing through horses that needed rescuing and I came across a small black and white filly. I was drawn to her colors, her big blue eyes jumped off the computer screen and begged me to help her. She was listed as a very well broke western pleasure horse that had professional training. I made a few calls and an hour later I had made arrangments for her to be picked up at New Holland Horse Auction a few days later. I was excited to get her back to our farm and see what she was all about. Monday rolled around and my cell phone buzzed in my pocket, the little paint mare was sick, very sick. She had to brought to a nearby clinic for treatment. She had a spiked temperature and had an awful infection in her lungs. The vet explained that she had probably had the infection for a few months but no one treated her. He said she was a strong little horse with a will to live and to have faith in her. Everyday I called and gave the clinic my credit card information to pay the bills, the little black and white horse was soon becoming quite expensive!
After a few weeks she was cleared for travel and made her way to Long Island. As the trailer pulled up many excited volunteers waited to see the little paint horse. We unloaded the horse and let her settle in. She seemed like she did not understand how to be led which worried me but I figured she had been through a lot and needed some time to get used to our farm.
One of my volunteers always told me she wanted a black and white paint horse, she is our photographer for the rescue horses and came out with her camera to snap some pictures of the paint horse. As we stood by the fence watching her I told Cadie, our photographer, that I had named the paint horse Darla. Cadie snapped some pictures but I got a feeling that Darla would never make it to our web site. Cadie left the farm with a smile that day. I knew that smile from a mile away, that was the smile of a girl who had just found her future horse.
Just a short week later Cadie adopted Darla. I wish I could say they lived happily ever after but Darla had other plans back then. Cadie's first ride on her was a bit shocking, Darla was barely broke to ride and was what I would call a handful. Cadie was a new rider and Darla was a green horse, anyone who knows horses can tell you this combination usually ends up with some dirt on the jeans from hitting the ground. We quickly learned that Darla also bite and was hard to handle on the ground. To no avail Cadie kept working through the issues. Working through the issues led to bruises, scratches, and tears. I found myself screaming across the ring "SIT BACK!!!!" on a daily basis as Darla ran across the ring throwing rodeo bucks.
As the months went by and many horses were returned to the rescue because they "needed too much work" Cadie kept working hard. She landed herself in the hospital with a concusssion after a spill on the trail, got some more bruises, and cracked her helmet. Against the odds she got back on Darla and kept working through the issues, she had more determination then anyone I had ever met. She would not give up on the little horse. She hired a professional trainer, took lessons, went on trails and slowly she figured Darla out. She loved to live outside so she had a shed build for her so she never had to be inside. Any problem that occured Cadie fixed it. Darla stopped biting and became lovely under saddle. She became the horse everyone wanted to pet and give carrots to at our barn. She was the horse all the kids asked about when they walked in. She was a dream come true.
After two years I sat in the ring today and watched Cadie cantering around the ring jumping oxers and smiling from ear to ear. I sat there thinking that Cadie was one of the few people that worked to make the horse work out and never gave up no matter how bad things got. She had proved that even the biggest problems can be fixed with some love and dedication.
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