When I was in high school I purchased my first horse and named her Lady. She had been owned by an old man who due to health reasons had allowed the care of his horses to go to neighbor boys who got to ride his horses in exchange for feeding them. My horse was gentle and was often left with whatever the younger horses did not eat. She was starving. It was not that there wasn't enough food, but the boys in their hurry to get the job done carelessly threw good feed on the barn floor where it got trampled into the manure.
Lady, was shoved out of the way as the younger horses ate first and as time passed she got less and less feed. I came to the farm with my father who was a friend of the owner of the horses. When he found out I had a love of horses I was invited to come out and ride. The first time I went to the barn the boys would have nothing to do with me, so I walked around petting the horses and then spotted Lady, standing in a corner of the barn. As I walked over her head raised up and her ears perked up and she whinnyed at me. As I stroked her neck and checked her over I could see the condition she was in and it broke my heart.
That evening at home I began to form a plan on how to save this horse. I had money in the bank I had been saving to buy a horse, so money was not a problem. Then where to keep her came into question and I called my uncle who had a dairy farm and ask him if I could board her there until other arrangements could be made. He was delighted to help me out and proceeded to clear out a stall in his barn. Next was getting my parents to approve and finding someone with a trailer to haul her to my uncles farm. In the end all went smoothly and I became the proud owner of a beautiful intelligent chestnut mare, who now had another chance at a healthy and happy life.
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