F-Florida & Day 4 of 30 day challenge.

F-Florida. 

Florida will always be special to me for several reasons. 1. It's basically my second home. 2. Tons of family lives there. 3. I first met Red there.

Red and I first met in Florida, and it was the best day of my life! :)

  Today is day 4 of the 30 day challenge, and I'm supposed to talk about a horse that impacted me. :) Red has probably impacted my life the most, but I decided to talk about my first horse, Barbie. A little 32 inch tall miniature brat. :))

 Mom and I decided that we wanted a miniature horse, and after searching for a few months, we found Barbie. Unknowingly, we embarked on a journey. 

 We were told that Barbie was VERY tame and was used for pony rides, but when we got there, she was going crazy, running away, bucking, biting, rearing. It took over an hour to get her closer, but we never got really close. We couldn't even pet her. They had to get on one of their bigger horses and literally herd her. This horse was obviously NOT tame. Mom looked at me and shook her head, telling me silently that this horse was too wild. But I wouldn't have it. There was something about her, something that made me want to take her and just help her. So we did. And after a couple weeks, she was trailered to our house. The previous owners were really late, and just handed us the lead and left. They apparently didn't care much for her. They were horse traders.

 She was crazy. She reared. She bit. She bucked. She did everything she could to keep us away. We put her in a small fenced in area at first to get her calm and would let her out in the pasture with a long lead that we could step on to catch her so she could eat and get some exercise daily. There is a swing tied to a tree in that little pasture, and I'd go out every day for an hour or so at a time, sometimes more than 3 times a day, and just listen to music, read or just talk to her on that swing. Finally, as I sat there, I felt her come closer and she finally let me get close.

 After a few weeks, she started to let me groom her and braid her mane. She was still pretty wild, though, and still tried to bite at people. She'd still run, but she was improving. When we fly sprayed her, she'd start running in circles, rearing and bucking like crazy. She hated touch, she hated anything to do with people.

 After a couple months, she let me do almost anything with her. She still bit at me occasionally, and still despised fly spray, but she was so much better.

 When we got Barbie, I had no plans on taming a horse, but that's what I did.

 She's stunning. Brown and white pinto, two blue eyes, a super thick mane and forelock, beautiful tail.

 And she was probably pregnant. This, this was bad. Mom had once lost a miniature mare to pregnancy because it's a lot harder for their small frames to give birth, and we just didn't have the money at the point to take her to a vet and do something, and we couldn't lose another horse.
  
So, shortly after we got Red, we rehomed Barbie. She now belongs to a really rich cowboy and his mini loving wife. They have a huge farm. They had at that point 28 miniatures, and he fell in love with her.

I miss Barbie to this day, she impacted my life and made me a better horse owner. Letting her go was so difficult, but it was for the best.

Question: What horse has impacted your life?