Tuesdays With Jen... My Memoirs

Since Saturday was the close of the annual Big Butler Fair, I thought it most appropriate to take ya'll back to my roots that once ran through that stomping ground. I was an exhibitor at the fair on numerous occasions. I had some friends who I stayed with who, now looking back, were probably not the best role models, but hey... it was a good time.

I showed my horse... a couple years Magnium, and after Penny came... her and her mother... AND Duke, my friends horse who is a smidge younger than Penny. We won many ribbons and a few bucks, but never enough to pay for the weeks worth of fun. But who's counting?!

When Penny was one year old, she went for her first trailer ride, it was an absolute disaster. A friend had a smaller two-horse trailer and agreed to haul her. It didn't take too long to get her into the trailer. She was fine. I was to follow to be sure that all was fine. About a third of a mile down the road she had a little meltdown. Oh my goodness!!!! I stopped my truck and was running down the road yelling S-T-O-P as loud and as frantic as I could. She had reared and got a foot into the manger, broke the snap, and somehow ended up with one hind leg over the divider and one broke through under it. She was pinned on her side. We were able to move the divider and free her legs so she could stand up. She was probably in shock, as was I. We decided that if we took her off the trailer that she would probably not ever want to get back on. So I tied her with two ropes and we tried again. This time we made it and she hauled fairly well. Lucky for her, she only had some very minor injuries. She scraped her leg a little and had a one-inch cut over her eye, but that's pretty much it. Poor thing.

The week was a success. We showed and we won... and when it was time to go home we had an alternative ride. I was worried about getting her on the ride home so I blindfolded her and practiced walking her all around. I purposely took her over logs so she would learn to lift her feet when I commanded. She learned really quick and was quite willing to lean on me without a fuss. When I walked her up to the trailer I said "UP" and she initially stepped up, except it was a ramp and she fell the rest of the way in. She landed in a nice big fluffy bed of shavings... and she didn't try to get up until I took the blindfold off. She has loaded and hauled quite well ever since.

This photo is duke, a year younger than Penny. He's so much more mature these days! He's still one of my favorite rides too!