It All Began with Krizta

I had always wanted horses since I was a little girl but my dream of having one did not come true until I moved with my family from Boston to northern New Hampshire. I closed my business in the city and my husband Doug quit his job and we moved to our farm. That’s when I decided that the time to start looking for a horse was now. Doug used to read the horses-for-sale section to me from a popular Traders magazine that he picked up from the local feed store in town. We made it our little Sunday morning ritual that he would read the horses-for-sale section to me while I just sat back and listened to each ad that he read to me. Many weekends came and went this way and I did not feel drawn to any of the horses that were offered for sale. I even made him read certain ads twice, or I would re-read one myself, just to make sure I did not overlook the special horse I was looking for and that was meant for me.

So it was on one Sunday morning, and like so many Sundays I planned to be disappointed and anticipated that I would not find the horse I was looking for, that Doug pulled out the new Traders magazine that he had bought at the local store the day before. He read the new and old horses-for-sale ads, and finally I was just about to say let’s call it quits for today, when he said let’s read just a few more and then move on with our day. Suddenly something caught my attention.

Beautiful, loving, spirited Grey Arabian mare for sale. We are sad to have to sell our mare. She is 14 years old, 14 hands tall, very intelligent, very good with children. Looking for a loving and sensitive individual with a big heart that can give our mare a forever home.

I asked Doug to read the ad again—and then many more times. Every time he read it I felt a little tug on my heart. I finally said that I’d like to call the people and find out more about this horse, whose name was Sierra Promise. I picked up the phone and called the phone number that was listed with the for-sale ad. My heart was racing as my finger dialed the number. Many thoughts went through my mind. What if the horse had already been sold and I was too late? My heart was pounding as I heard the phone picked up and a female voice said hello. I introduced myself as calmly as I could and asked about the horse for sale. The lady was happy that I was responding to the ad in the magazine and told me that the horse I was calling about was still for sale but some people had already come and seen the horse and if I was really interested in the horse, I should definitely not wait too long to come and see her.

After I hung up the phone, panic immediately started to set in. I realized that we did not have a barn yet for the horse. This was completely obvious to all three of us but up to this point none of us seemed aware of it, in a practical sense. What if I was not able to handle a horse? I knew nothing about horses! Doug didn’t either. The fact that we did not even have a barn made it worse.

A week passed and I guess we all did some thinking and re-thinking. The people called me and asked if I still wanted to buy the horse, and I gulped and said yes. I started to look for a stable for a few months until we finished building our new barn. Doug found a nearby farm, and a few days before my horse arrived I drove over to the farm and made the arrangements for my horse to be boarded. Finally the day arrived and my new horse was coming home.
At the boarding farm I thought I noticed that the horse seemed to be frail looking, not exactly like the pictures the people had sent me. Besides being frail looking the horse seemed to limp a little and when I asked the people about it they told me that she must have bumped her leg in the trailer but it should go away fast. As I led the horse into her new stall I also noticed that the horse was quite a bit off balance and seemed to lean on me to give her support. I didn’t know anything about horses but I could tell that much.

A few days later after multiple visits daily to the farm where Sierra Promise was boarded, I concluded that the horse had some major health issues and I decided to consult a veterinarian. After the local veterinarian examined my new horse, she told me that the horse was in very poor health including having a cracked right hip that most likely would never heal. The crack in the hip was located in a very difficult area and, therefore, the chances of the horse ever completely recovering or my being able to ever ride this horse would be zero.

Just as I thought things could not get any worse, they called me from the farm where we were boarding her and told me that my new horse had collapsed. I raced over to the stables. Thank God she was up and seemed fine when I arrived. It was around her feeding time and we watched her eat. She seemed to have a good appetite and my heart which had been in my boots came up a little.

A few weeks later the horse started to gain some weight and eat very well. I felt she was looking forward to seeing me and sometimes she whinnied when she saw me. Her hip situation still did not improve and the horse was not able to walk very far without limping and losing her balance. Everyone seemed to try to give me good advice but in the end I knew a miracle had to happen for this horse to heal again. Finally I heard about an equine hospital in the lower part of the state. I was told that the facility was very advanced and that I might be able to find help there. With high hopes, I called and was connected to one of the top equine surgeons in the clinic. After I talked to the surgeon and explained to him what the situation was and repeated the vet’s diagnosis of my new horse, he sadly told me that hip fractures rarely ever heal and since it was on the right hip and located in a very difficult area even surgery would not be advisable. It would be in the end a very costly process with little hope for recovery. He strongly suggested calling the seller of the horse and sending her back to them. He stressed to me that the only purpose this horse would be good for was to make us a good “lawn ornament.” I was devastated.

At first I did not know what to do. I decided to take the vet’s advice and call the sellers to come and pick up the ill horse they had sold me. The woman picked up the phone and I told her what the veterinarian and the surgeon had told me about the horse’s health. She told me that they did not know about the horse being ill and she was going to talk to her husband and they would make arrangements to come and pick her up the next day. After the conversation, I drove over to the stables to spend time with my horse. By that time we had made great progress in establishing trust in each other. I noticed how much I had bonded with this horse and I really wanted her to heal again but I did not know how this would be possible.

After Sierra ate all the apples and carrots that I had brought for her, I left the stables to drive home. That evening, I received a call from the woman telling me that her husband would come and pick up the horse the next day. I’m sure she was sincere enough as far as it went, but at the same time I still was not ready for the wiles of a “horse trader,” of which we hear so much. She told me it was getting really cold, which I hardly needed to be reminded of, and as they didn’t have a closed trailer, so the horse might catch pneumonia, she lamented. In a teary voice she said they had given away her stall to another horse so would have to put her way in the back of the barn where it was much colder than the rest of their barn. With a very sad and uncomfortable feeling in the pit of my stomach, I agreed for them to come and pick up the horse the next day and hung up the phone.

That night I had a dream about my horse. In my dream I saw my new horse walk away from me. I could see her tail flowing in the wind and then suddenly she stopped and turned around to look me in the eyes and I heard her say without words that she was very disappointed in me. She told me that everyone had let her down and walked away from her but that she never had expected for me to do the same. In my dream I saw her big black eyes filled with a sadness I had never seen before. Then she turned around and walked away. . . .