Meet the Buddha

For the last 6 years, I have had the priviledge of having a horse in my life.  His name is Buddha - tranformed from Bud who was transformed from AB Dazzle as his papers state.  He is soon to be 19 and is a no spot  or solid Appaloosa.  A wonderful lady in Wisconsin purchased him for her son when he was 3, hoping to have a horse he could show. She had purcased  him from an auction in Florida and said  at the time he looked straight into her eyes (and soul) pleading to be rescued from his heavy handed trainers.   Turns out the young horse and the young son basically hated each other.  Luckily for me she decided to keep Bud and show him herself.  They did okay, but, she had to retire him early due to issues in the show ring.  Apparently,  he got so jazzed after performing ; he could/would not calm down and stand still as the judges prefered.  Ergo, his show biz career came to an abrupt stop. 

He resides on a 10.5 acre farm in Wisconsin and shares his space with several other equine.  One of which was an elderly gelding by the name of Piedmont. They had been together almost 12 years as Piedy's mate had passed away shortly after coming to the barn and Bud was there to pick up the slack.  They often grazed together, groomed each other and Bud would protect Piedy from any youngin who thought he would test his ego out by bothering this elder statesman.  They were quite the dymanic duo.

When I first met Bud, he was a tad untrusting and never the one to make the first move to greet - stranger danger - was his credo. We did alot of ground work in the beginning, walking around, lunging ( I hung on for dear life some days ) and especially grooming.  I recall our first session and he had one eye on me the entire time.  He was so unsure of what I was going to do next - he just could not relax...........now I have to remind him to stay awake!!!  I

OOPS!!!

As you can see I'm new at this and I'm having technical difficulties - ergo the added photo of Silver.  I hope to improve as time passes.

Born with an Equine Gene

My love of horses began when I was very young. My 2 Aunts, who resided in Ohio, purchased/rescued 2 horses after they were established in their careers and could handle the extra expenses - we're talking the 50's here - folks. Lady was an 8 year old Morgan and Silver was a 3 year old Palomino. Rumor has it I approached these creatures at age 2 and walked underneath them, hugged their legs and when I was atop - kicked like the dickens!! Lady, in her infinite wisdom, knew she had precious cargo on her back and never moved an extra muscle - Silver, being younger, was supervised closer due to his inexperience. Every summer vacation was filled with time in the saddle or on the ground feeding them sugar cubes and carrots, until Silver died at the age of 21  due to colic and Lady passed at the age of 26 of natural causes.  I truly believe my passion for horses was predestined for me through my family and these 2 magnificent creatures.

Over the years, I've aways associated with people who have had horses within their reach. It's been uncanny, but, never the less true. When we moved from Chicago to a western suburb when I was 5, there was a horse living in the backyard on the next block. Another neighbor was just as smitten with horses and in time we became quite friendly with Bobby - the horse less than a block away. Her friendship led to another friend on our block who had relatives that owned 3 horses and lived in a nearby town - thank goodness she got her license first! After graduating high school I moved closer to the city and worked for a veterinarian who had a receptionist that- you guessed it - owned a horse!   When my husband and I  moved into our first house, with our 2 year old son, the house across the street was up for sale....and the lady who bought it, had a horse that she boarded in Wisconsin.  Add to all of  this  my niece has had several equine over the years that I have had the pleasure to meet and ride.  Horses, it seems, have followed me my whole life OR I have been hot on their trails for most of my existence!!