“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway. “
John Wayne
My entire life I dreamed of owning horses. I have learned to ride, train and care for them but never owned my own. I grew up on 2.5 acers and had the room but mom always said, “I’ll own 400+ horses but on 2 wheels not 4 legs”.
One year ago, today we purchased our first horse, Tł’éé’honaa’éí translation bringer of night in Deni or Navajo. For short and so people could pronounce his name we named him Necho. Necho was an older black and white gelded paint from the Navajo reservation in Northern Arizona. Calm, loving, great with the boys and loved attention Necho was a fantastic first learning experience to owning our own horses.
Unfortunately, we learned the reason Necho had been so cheap to purchase. While well trained at one point in his life he had become barn sower. He refused to ride farther then a few hundred feet from his corral or walk on rock; which was a problem since we live on a canyon and would rather be out in the pasture. Due to the work we eventually wanted our horses to do such as trail ride with the boys, herd cattle, and check fences he was not a good fit for the ranch.
Soon we found him the perfect home and in exchange took on a wild Fish Creek mustang. Red a young gelded quarter horse also a loving yet skittish came to live on the ranch. He is well behaved around the children and dogs, wonderful on a lead rope and well trained with his lunge whip. We are still working with him with saddling and riding and eventually will be the perfect working horse to help on not only our ranch but neighboring ranches around us.
Then in the late spring we received a call about a horse that had been dumped in a local ranches paddock. He was asphyxiated; dehydrated and on the verge of death. With out a second thought Phil loaded up the trailer and we were off to get him. Lucky was a 35+ year old gelded palomino paint. He hadn’t looked to be abused but neglected in his old age.
Luck lived with us as his retirement home for a few months where he felt loved and cared for. For the most part he free roamed the ranch and spent time with his buddy Red. In the time we had lucky we had been surprised he survived the night. He was slowly brought back to health, would walk with the boys as a companion and had the life he deserved. Lucky did eventually pass late one night but we were happy to have him for as long as we did and glad, he was in a loving home when he did go.
Our final addition for now is our spoiled retired ranch horse Charlie. Charly is in his late twenty’s a handsome yet fat and stubborn gelded palomino. Charlie came from one of the largest ranches in Northern Arizona. He spends his now retired days out on the ranch eating, letting the kids ride him and spending time with red.
Our horses are a large part of our life and we will have more as we grow but for now, we love the two boys we have and enjoy their personalities. Red will be visiting a friend’s ranch down south this spring to be trained for a few months and Charlie will live out his day as a cherished companion. My dreams have come true and so much more will over the next many years on the Rockin Boondox Ranch.
Definitions
Gelding – A Castrated (Neutered) male horse
Barn sower – a horse that refuses to leave its coral
Lunge whip – a long whip like device used to whip the ground to direct a horse with commands or directions
Paddock – an enclosed field in which a horse is kept or exercised
Palomino – Horse Breed, a pale gold or tan color
Paint – Horse Breed, light and dark two-toned coloring
Quarter horse – Horse Breed, small, stocky noted for agility and speed. Quarter horses are typically all brown with some variations of black on mane, tail, and socks of their feet
The Rockin Boondox Ranch 