So let's start here: Did you ever have that horse (or dog, cat, etc.) that was so much more then a pet or even a friend? That once in a lifetime animal soulmate that transcends the boundary between normal human and animal connections? That one creature that you swear understands most if not all of your words and actions? Jake was all that, he was my best friend, he balanced me out, and he taught me so much. Jake was a family member, and he had opinions that people had to listen to because he was usually right. (More about that later)
So.... I had always wanted a horse, for as long as anyone can remember, not a pony, a horse. Whenever my family could afford it I got to take riding lessons and thanks to an anonymous donation got to attend a summer riding camp when I was 6. As I got older I rode a different barns, with different horse and trainers with different approaches. I volunteered whenever I could and even got to ride a friend's horse bareback as a reward for helping on her dairy farm when I was 8. Eventually my family and I ended up in CT and the cycle started all over again. A friend of my parent's from church got me a lesson package at a local farm as a thank you for doing gardening work for her. I was ten at the time. Years went by, I, as always, read as much as I could, volunteered as much as I could and took lessons when I could afford it.
By the time I was fifteen I was indispensable as a volunteer at the barn, I would be there from dawn to dusk or longer whenever I could. I was a groom at all the shows, I never missed a day due to bad weather and the horses loved me. My initiative impressed my parents (they were really hoping this was a faze, but they were just in denial). So they sat me down and we had a talk, they were thinking of working things out so I could lease a horse, and maybe even buy one. So I got to try a bunch of horses from the barn. I tried Nicky, a western horse that had a huge chip on his shoulder. Then I tried Willow, a beautiful 3yr old morgan mare who wasn't going to get tall enough for me. Next came Hurley, he was a fantasic TB gelding that had a heart of gold, but he was expensive and one of my best friends wanted to buy him, so I decided to pass on him (he died a few months later).
Then the farm owners daughter who ran the lessons looked at me and said,
"You know what, I forgot about Jake, you should try him!"
"Jake? Which one is Jake?"
"Oh he's the one who's out all the time, the stall next to PJ." (Ok, back then I trusted her, never stopped to wonder at the time why he was out all the time)
So I tried Jake, he did everything I asked, granted with a little attitude, but he still did it. He was a roman nosed blah looking horse with big ears, but his eyes are what got me.... You can tell a lot about a horse from their eyes, and a lot of people will back me up on that. He was 7 years old, dark bay and 15.2hh (barely). At the time I was 5'6ish almost 5'7".
I came home after my lesson and raving about Jake, I had ridden Nicky not long before trying Jake and Nicky had been trying to drag me to the center of the ring and doing the best impression of a donkey I have ever seen. I never thought much when my parents said they had to go talk to Lee (the farm owner). They came home later that night and looked me in the eyes and said,
"We bought Jake, a halter and a bridle, Lee said you can use one of their saddles for now."
I just stared and then pretty much told them they were funny and nice try tricking me (Dad had made promises in the past that were along the lines of "if you do this I'll get you a pony" or something involving helicopter rides). I probably took them a good 20 minutes to convince me they weren't joking....
Then the conditions came, I had to work to pay for his board and upkeep, they would pay for his purchase price. I had already started working for Lee a couple weeks before hand, hoping to start saving up money.
It took a couple weeks for it to really sink in that Jake was MINE! (It involved a stupid girl fight shouting "no he's mine!" back and forth till I offered to show her the bill of sale)
<---So this is us the first week I owned him, he was out of shape (so was I) and he had a bad attitude. He shoved people, liked to stomp feet and loved to itch his bridled head on you when you tried to let yourself out of the ring. Jake was a BRAT. The first time my father saw him he looked at my mom and I and said, "You didn't tell me we bought a Mule!" He was not joking, he was serious and I was offended (It's funny now however). I got to enjoy him for two weeks and then he went Lame..... Now then, as it was July a lot of the girls from the barn had been on vacation (see the stupid girl fight above). One of them was a girl a few years younger then me that had her own horse. She came back and congratulated me on buying Jake, apparently he was ringer in the Eq ring. But then she said "well he was when he wasn't lame, like he is now." I was shocked and I got more information from her (later confirming it with other sources). A sad and horrifying picture was painted.... Jake would do lesson after lesson, show every weekend, and this would go on for a few months. Then he'd go lame and be ignored till he was sound. This pattern had been repeated since he was first bought as a 3yr old. So for 4 years he'd be ridden into the ground and then ignored till he was sound.No wonder he had an attitude! Suddenly I felt like the biggest idiot, here I was, having worked my ass off for this woman (the daughter) for free and she had carefully omitted the truth and sold me a horse with chronic lameness issues. I was pissed. Not only for my sake but for Jake's.
Over the next three months Jake and I learned a hell of a lot about each other. He had a large abscess too deep to be cut out. He was on stall rest with Epsom salt soaks at least 3 times a day. There was nothing we could do but hope the stupid thing would move up and come out his cornet band. So we talked, groomed and fought over keeping his foot in the tubs. He knocked people over, he started nipping (and then went on a no treats ban for 4 months), he would try to step on you and share his misery. He even managed to escape and scare the crap out of me by running around on three legs like a mad man. Long story short the abscess just disappeared one day, which was mind-boggling for the vet.
So then his recovery started, and we go in shape together. By now a lot of his attitude problems were gone. He'd become a large lovebug and finally got to show his heart of gold to the world. We got back into shape together and really started progressing. I did even more re
ading and decided I didn't like the bit they had been riding him in, a twisted wire full cheek snaffle, I put him in a plain full cheek and he was fine (I later found out he had a hard time stopping due to his QH build, and they had stuck that bit on his bridle, he then proceeded to bolt with many students as he mouth would become painful from their beginner hands banging on it). I captained a Drill Team that winter to finish off getting him into shape, we were a huge success.We preformed in 3 degree weather in a tiny indoor ring and I'm still proud of that performance to this day.---->
So we struggled over the next couple of years. I got my own english saddle that first winter and thanks to the saddle fitter's warning bought one with an extra long flap (I shot up to 5'9" that spring). I ended up moving Jake downstairs to the lower barn and refused to train with the owners daughter any longer (she refused to let me show in tall boots despite the fact I jumped and was over 16, it was humiliating as she made me show in garters and jods and this was a minor problem compared to some other things she did to us).
My bible was George Morris' Hunter Seat Equitation and I trained myself for those two years. We then dabbled in some western riding and I used him for my work as a trail guide. He was a customer favorite! I would jump off at our arrival back at the barn and leave his reins hooked over the horn. People would pet him and pose for pictures with him. He even made friends with some Japanese tourists and I later found out from their american friends that they had framed the picture of them with him and it was in their living room in Japan.
Jake slowly became famous, all the kids loved him, the other boarders loved him and the kids in the therapeutic riding program that I volunteered in loved him. Jake loved kids, and would be so gentle with them, treating them like they were made of glass. He would be fresh with me, because I was mom and then the calmest horse with a little kid on his back.
I ended up having to put a sign on his stall door "Please don't feed your fingers to my horse" as so many people were feeding him treats when I wasn't around that he was starting to get pushy again.
Somewhere in here Lee found his original Coggins from when she bought him as a 3yr old. It turned out he really was all QH and Canadian to boot.We tried to contact his old owner but were never able to get a hold of him.
Also he got kicked in the nose during a trail ride and it "fixed" his nose, giving him a more attractive profile.
Then we discovered barrel racing! The barn always had huge gymkhana nights as it was, at least 50 horses every time. I started Jake out slow as I didn't know how he'd handle things. My friend Julie and her appy Frank had helped us by teaching us the basics of can chasing. Each time I'd let Jake go a little faster.
Finally at our 3rd Gymkhana I let him go. Holy sh*t! Those of you who have truly fast horses can understand, but my gawd! The sheer power that came out of him was incredible! We left trenches in the sand ring from him taking off. Our turns were sloppy still but our speed was amazing. And then he didn't want to stop! I almost ran over the time keeper and then had to run him into the fence to get him to stop. We were second only to the seasoned Julie and Frank. I was on cloud nine! Then Lee's daughter had to ruin it, not wanting to be beaten by me she went and tacked up her new 16.2hh TB jumper mare western and ran the barrels on her after already having done them on her gaming horse Apache. Needless to say she trounced us and we both got bumped down a place. I was more then a little upset.
Jake and I barrel raced and showed english whenever he was sound. He would go lame on and off and was always unrideable after getting shod. I put him on a hoof supplement and was religious about hoof moisturizer.
Jake and I had been racking up the ribbons and so I entered him in the two day show at our barn. Jake was pulling double duty as I was showing him in the Eq and my little sister was showing him walk/trot (Jake was the walk/trot king). During an Eq over fences class that first day I had an epic fall. Jake tripped on a rock while heading to an in-and-out that was heading straight at the judge's tent. Jake wobbled and somehow manage to scrape together enough balance to jump the first jump, but thanks to his trip right before takeoff my legs had gotten too far behind me. We landed in the middle and straightened in that one stride, both regaining our balance. He jumped the second jump and my mind flashed "YES!" we were perfect! Then I had nothing.... Jake landed and I was flying, I hit the dirt so hard i scratched my brand new tall boots, and almost had my helmet ripped off. Jake slammed on the brakes, he always stood still when you fell. However what had happened was my stirrup leathers had slipped complete off the bars (never happened again) over the second jump and had literally fallen off my feet. The ends of the leathers however were still stuck in their keepers, when Jake stopped momentum kept the stirrups moving and they slammed him in his boy parts and underbelly. His eyes bulged out and he bolted, covering me in more sand. It took my 5 minutes to catch him, he wouldn't stop and the stirrups kept beating him until they each came off completely. He was a nervous wreck, I pet him and talked calmly as I walked around to collect my stirrups. It was then that I realized the whole crowd of people at the show had been silent this entire time. As I picked up the second stirrup I hugged my quivering horse, and people started applauding which pushed me over the edge and I started crying.
We tried to finish the show but Jake had snapped, he was nervous and scared and terrified. For the first time he got reserve in the walk/trot. At the end of the day I walked over to a friend of mine who would be trailering her son's horse home and asked if she would mind dropping Jake off somewhere for me. I had been helping a friend of my parent's with a couple of rescue horse he'd bought and he'd been pestering me to move Jake there. I had decided Jake need a vacation and that's just what he got. He spent two weeks at the quiet barn and just chilled. I had also decided to try a new farrier, deciding that no matter what people said the farrier I had been using was the problem not "Jake's crappy QH feet". Boy was I right! John did Jake and he was sound right after being shod and rideable! I was overjoyed (My current farrier later told me Jake had fantastic feet and that my first farrier's nick name in the horseshoer community was "The Crippler").
I brought Jake back to Lee's after his vacation, we did a 2-d barrel race at another farm and finished the english show season with a bang. I ended up moving Jake to the small barn that winter and he stayed there for almost a year enjoying being king of the barn.
