The Lucky One

So this morning I woke up to a comment on my facebook, it was really interesting to me so I thought I would talk about it on my blog!  Here is the question:

Brittany- u have had so many horses to choose from. Is there any story behind how u chose who would be your own horse? Do u ride him? Tell! He is a lucky one!

Well, here is the story of my thoroughbred, "Logan" aka "The Lucky One"...

I feel like every girl who rides english and dreams of winning ribbons and being in the Olympics dreams of that special horse, that one in a million.  Ever since Sage passed away (my one in a million) I always hoped I would one day find another horse like him to get back into showing and to have fun with.  I wanted a 17 hh, big bay, 2-3 year old gelding straight off the track that I could mold into a horse that could do the big hunters.  I already had an amazing throughbred, Louie, that I love more then life itself but I thought if the right horse came along I could get a baby to bring along.  Last year, right around Christmas, I was chatting with my vet and asked him to keep his eye out for a big horse that I could rescue and keep as my own.  He said he would keep his eyes open and there were tons of thoroughbreds at Belmont that needed homes and had no where to go.  The idea of having another baby like Sage was thrilling.

That night our vet called and said to meet him at the track at 4 am to see a horse that he thought was perfect for me.  It all happend quickly but I decided to take a look.  The next morning I arrived at Belmont, met with our vet and walked to the barn that the horse was kept in.  I'd like to say it was love at first sight but to be honest I almost laughed at the horse looking back at me.  He was barely 15.3 hh, he was a chestnut, he was skinny as hell, and his mane looked like someone took a butter knive to it!  I talked with the trainer and found out he was 6, was a huge failure, never won a race, but they kept him in the barn because he was a charecter and all the grooms loved him.  They trotted him out for me and I got to look over all his medical records, his xrays were clean, he was healthy, just needed some weight.  I asked my vet if he needed new glasses because the horse was nothing like I described but I was drawn to him.  I told them I had to sleep on it, he was not what I was looking for but maybe I could take him into the rescue.  As I was getting ready to leave a white bird landed on his back in his stall.  My mom told me it was sign from grandma in heaven that this horse would become mine.  I laughed and told her she was insane but as we were walking out the horse nickered to me and jumped up and down in his stall. 

I guess you could say I am a sucker, I didnt need another horse, he was not my dream horse, he was tiny, skinny, and kind of funny looking but I made the phone call the next day that I would take him, we arranged shipping for the day after in the morning.  In the past 7 years I've had 130 horses come into my rescue, gorgeous OTTBS, big warmbloods, cute QH's, adorable ponies, and I now owned a small chestnut TB gelding.  I laughed out loud driving to the barn the next morning, I had clearly lost my mind. 

The trailer pulled into our court yard and they unloaded the horse, they handed me the lead rope, his papers, and drove away.  I took my new little horse for a walk and he was super calm and level headed walking around the farm.  He got to meet his TB brother, Louie, and they sniffed each other over the stall door.  Louie kind of gave me the "mom your insane, who is this shrimp" look.  I settled the new horse in and put a heavy blanket on him.  

Part of my huge big bay horse dream was to name him "Logan" and his show name would be "Livin' it Large".  After a few days I was calling him Logan and it seemed to fit him.  He was quickly becoming the funniest horse I'd ever met, picking up brushes, licking my jacket, and calling for me whenever I was in his line of vision.  The show name was a different story, nothing about Logan was large.  One of my friends reminded me about the book "The Lucky One", the main charecter was Logan.  After going back and forth I settled on it to be his show name.  I loved the book and Logan really was the lucky one, he was not what I dreamed of but I quickly started to realize that what you want is not always what you need. 

After hiring a great trainer to help me start him off right he proved to the be the calmest horse I'd ever owned,  he had a nice WTC that needed some major work but he was bomb proof and a complete mush (even though he does still try to nip people who ignore him!).  On one of the coldest days of the year I had my first ride on Logan, I've never felt more at home on a horse, he was lovely, I'm not a mushy person but I cried that day remembering thats how it felt to ride Sage.  That feeling that you get when you realize that you would put your life in your horses hands (or hooves!).  I guess I can thank my grandma for the white bird that landed on Logan.  That day I realized that every one has an idea of the type of horse they want but sometimes a different horse comes a long that will be perfect for you even if you don't see it at first.

Logan turned out to be my dream horse, he makes my laugh everyday, I got to put him over his first jump, we have a deep bond that makes my heart glow and puts a smile on my face.  Every day when I'm grooming him I always tell him that I will always love him to the moon and back. 

So I guess the moral of the story...give every horse a chance when you are looking for your new best friend, you may never know which horse steals your heart.