Ooops...... I did it again

Well, not me, really, hubby did.

I swore that this winter, I would NOT get another horse. No, not, nyet, negative. I am more than happy with my little herd of mares. Five altogether, including Lakota, Jen, Ana (Jen's filly), Whinney the ancient ornery old pony, and April the mini (I know, I don't talk about those girls much). They are a nice little group, my daughter rides Whinney currently, but once Jen is rehabbed and has enough weight on, she will ride Jen (as she has already outgrown Whinney, physically anyway), Lakota is my girl, April was my daughters first pony, and well, Ana just sorta came along with Jen for the ride (she didn't have much choice, still being inside and all).

As it turns out, it looks as though I somehow acquire one horse per year for the last 10 years. I don't still have all of them, for various reasons. It started off with Turbo in 3/98, then April came in 4/99 because Turbo needed a companion, then Whinney came later in the fall, I beleive it was 9/00 because she needed a home or was going to be sent to auction. Then along came Traveler in 2/02. Traveler met with a fateful accident in 2/03, and then Lakota made her way to my doorstep in 4/03. Turbo died from cancer in 9/04, and in January of 2005 Joe showed up in the paddock. Then in May of 2005 is when Sweetie (the first rescue) came along, March 2006 Tally (2nd rescue) made her appearance, and April 06 is when Sweetie left for her next stint as a companion for a blind elderly appy. Diva was born of Tally on 5/5/06, then in December of 2006 Tally found her new home as the Christmas gift for a 2 year old little girl. I was done, I really was, until early 2007 when Jen was looking for a new home. So she arrived in March of 2007, and Ana was born on May 18, 2007. Joe found his new home in August of 2007, and I was just a happy little girl here, with my quiet little group of mares (in case you can't follow, left are Lakota, Jen, Ana, Whinney and April).

But then, as is usual, my dear husband had to throw a monkey wrench into things. He's been saying this for over 10 years, but this fall he's become more insistent.

"I want a Belgian." me: "Yeah, OK, whose gonna feed it and shovel all its poop?" no answer, as is typical.

"So have you found me a Belgian yet?" me: "Yeah, sure, what you going to do with it? You've been on a horse twice and complained the entire time."

"Did you find me a Belgian yet?" me: "You do realize one Beligan will eat as much as the 5 we have now, we will double our hay consumption."

"When is my Belgian coming?" me: "You really want one? Because I can find you one like that (snapping fingers). The feedlots are loaded with old, used up Belgians, perfect husband horses."

"I don't want a depreit old one that is just going to die." me: Well that's all you're going to get, because I am not training/working with a Belgian. I have my hands full with my little 14.2 mares. A decrepit old one is all you need, and you're not going to do a darned thing with it anyway, so it may as well retire here if all you're going to do is look at it while I do all the feeding, cleaning, grooming, etc."

So ...... meet Leroy

Leroy's story is reported that he is an old Amish workhorse that has done his years of service pulling the plows, was sold to a hack string and was a hack horse for awhile. He's been passed around at auctions to brokers for the last little while, and was earmarked for the next truck to slaughter. I was able to get my paypal payment in for him quite literally at the 11th hour, as the truck pulls out at 5 pm on Monday, he had been at this particular broker for weeks, and my paypal payment went through at 11:52 am on Monday.

Leroy is currently in quarantine for another week, and should be making the trip from Pa to CT on 11/12. Welcome to Connecticut, Leroy!