Tom's wife (21 years), Sarah's (17)
and Casey's (13) mom, caretaker of three dogs, six horses, one cat, and life-long resident of Harford County, Maryland. You
can follow my blog at: http://www.simplyme.typepad.com/.
In February 2009, my husband discovered Craigslist. Having been laid off from his construction job in December of
2008, he had time on his hands, and Craigslist gave him something to do while we waited for spring to return along with work.
We disagree on how things progressed from there, but I'm writing this story so I'm telling it the way I say it happened!
One day while perusing the Farm & Garden section of the Baltimore Craigslist, he came across an ad for a Miniature
Horse filly. He started sharing the pictures with me.
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| Our 1st pic of Izzy (Isabella) in Craigslist of Winter 2009 |
I initially ignored him. It wasn't like I could
have that adorable thing for my very own. Yet, the ad kept coming back up, and he kept showing it to me. I finally asked him
why he was torturing me like this? He certainly wasn't going to agree to bringing home a horse, even if it was a miniature
one. We were completely clueless about owning a horse. I have loved them all my life and read nothing but Black Stallion
and Marguerite Henry horse books (Misty of Chincoteague author) as a child. I had never owned a horse of my
own though. I had some knowledge of their care and keeping but not nearly enough.
After many discussions,
it became clear to me that he really was agreeable to the idea and what it entailed. I told him that he knew that once I went
to see her that it was very unlikely I wouldn't want to bring her home. I needed to be sure he understood that. After nearly
20 years of marriage, he had no doubt what the outcome of such a visit would be. So with great excitement, my daughter and
I took a trip to Kingsville, Maryland, on a wet, gray day in late March 2009 and our life was changed forever.
A week later, we brought our new girl home. We named her Isabella (Izzy for short). The first 2 weeks she actually
stayed a mile down the road at our neighbor's home because we needed to finish our fencing and await delivery of our run-in
shed/tack room combo building. It was a thrill every morning to go down there and see her. I was amazed at how friendly and
easy going she was. In my later research, I came to understand this is the normal personality of most miniatures. I did worry
that she looked more like a yak than a horse though.
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| Izzy's 1st days with us @ 10 months old |
We were finally able to bring her to our home about 2 weeks later. It was fun
walking her the mile between their house and ours. We got lots of strange looks and stares from the people who passed us by
in their cars. She seemed to enjoy the walk and her new home. We were happy to be able to have her right out the back door.
We quickly learned from our research that she would be happier if she had a buddy. For me, the only good option was
another horse. The question was whether we should get another young horse or an older horse that was already more "trained."
We chose the older horse route and that's how we came to bring home 11-year-old Cha Cha a month later.
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| Cha Cha- our now 13 yr old mare |
We thought we were done at that point. Oh how foolish we newbies were!! A couple
weeks after bringing home Cha Cha, my husband found yet another Craigslist ad for a cart and harness. I had already figured
out this was something we would want to do at some point, so my daughter and I headed out again. We didn't buy the cart or
the harness, but fell in love at first sight with Baby.
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| Our 1st look @ Baby in May 2009-3 wks old |
Baby was only 3 weeks old at the time we first saw her. I had no idea how I
was going to convince my husband that I couldn't live another day without knowing she was mine. We had her named before we
even got home. Thankfully, he was still agreeable on the subject at hand and gave me the green light to put a deposit down.
She came home for good in August 2009.
Again, we thought we had a full plate at that point. But
no, my husband just had to open one more ad on Craigslist. We were so happy with Izzy, and we knew her dam had been due to
give birth again a couple months after we brought Izzy home. We had talked about making contact with her breeder to see if
she had another filly or not. I was over the moon when I realized this latest ad he had found was indeed Izzy's baby sister!
It was a no-brainer that we HAD to bring her home too. We really struggled with wanting to bring home their mom too, but we
finally did resist it. This is Missy with her buckskin pinto sire on the first day I met her.
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| Missy and her sire "Shy" - September 2009 @ 4 months |
She came home a month later in October 2009.
And
if you all remember, it was that winter that the Maryland/Pennsylvania area was hit with not one but THREE major blizzards
in the span of just a few weeks. We would like to once again apologize to one and all who were impacted by these storms. We
truly believe they were our fault. We brought home four horses and the blizzards were Mother Nature's little joke on us. Sorry
everyone had to be involved along with us!
During that first year of our new life with miniatures,
I attended a clinic and a couple open houses at Kathy Snyder's Valhalla Farm in Westminster, Maryland. It was this contact
that put me in touch with some wonderful people, who in turn let me know about the MDMHA. My daughter and I tried our hand
at showing for the first time during the 2010 show season. We made a lot of mistakes along the way but learned so much too.
The genuine friendliness and helpfulness of the members of MDMHA helped to make it a fantastic experience and one I want to
continue for a very long time.
For most normal people, our story should have pretty much settled
down at this point. Unfortunately, I still hadn't gotten around to blocking Craigslist from our computer and in April of this
year, he found yet one more ad: "Free to good home: two miniature horses." Hello Lucy and Ethel.
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| Lucy and Ethel-on their 1st day with us in April 2011 |
If you would have asked me 3 years ago if I ever thought I would own *one* horse
(let alone *six*), I would have told you that you were C.R.A.Z.Y. I am so glad I was so wrong!
