MY HORSES
When I was a horse crazy kid I dreamed night and day of getting my own horse. I devoured C.W. Anderson's tales of famous racehorses and Billy and Blaze. I discovered The Black Stallion and The Sweet Running Filly. I begged for a pony for Christmas, then as I got older I begged for a horse. Breyer and Marx horses filled my life instead. I still love my models but I am so grateful my parents finally saw the light and bought my first horse when I was 13. We didn't know then what the purchase of one skin and bones horse would lead to in the terms of animal rescue! (or Mom and Dad might have run the other way!)
BLACK MAGIC
Black Magic (aka Blackie, originally enough) was a Tennessee Walking Horse older than I was. When we first got her she was so weak she could only walk. That turned out to be not such a bad thing! Blackie taught me to ride and to sit a shy. NOBODY could shy like Black Magic. I actually found myself hanging in the air for a minute! As she got older her poor treatment of the past came back to haunt her with various infirmities. She was sold to a woman who promised to keep her as a pet and just trail ride her on the beach in LA. I hope she might read this and get in touch! Selling Blackie haunted me ever since and taught me that I was never destined to be a horse breeder/seller! She is still the only horse I ever sold.
Everyone has a horse of a lifetime and Tonka was it. My dream horse (well after Man O' War!) was a black with blanket Appaloosa. I got Tonka in the summer before 11th grade. Tonka did very well showing for his former owner, but he did have some issues to work through when I got him! I was at the barn every single day and we started to show locally. For a while Tonka was the only Appaloosa in the area showing English. Sometimes that was good and sometimes that was not very good at all! We discovered the infamous "Quarter Horse Judge" who refuses to place any spotted or painted horse at all. However, we also converted a few!
Tonka was more than a horse or a pet, he was my partner. There will never be another one like him. He wasn't a beauty to look at if conformation is your thing but he could move like a dream. Tonka died in 1993 of a paralyzing disease which was only being discovered at the time, EMND. I only figured that out years later after reading a paper online that had a video of a horse with the characteristic "treading" action of the hind legs along with other wasting symptoms.
One day my friend Gloria called me and said "I BOUGHT A HORSE!" Since Gloria was already horse poor I was almost afraid to ask what! "She's a 2 year old Thoroughbred filly and I only bought her to keep her from starving to death." Thank goodness she did because Summer was definitely almost to the point of starving to death and promptly fell in the trailer when loaded and had a major panic attack. The men had to drag her out, pick her up because she couldn't get up and load her again. Even 3 weeks later when the pictures were taken she's still shockingly thin and weak.
She gradually gained weight and attitude. She learned if she was mean and pushy she got her way. So after a few years of this Summer got sent to live with me in 1996! She was Big and Bad but after a lot of work she mellowed out and eventually became a big pet. WELL unless you are another horse getting any attention from Summer's fan club! Summer fought many health problems over the years from vasculitis, sinker founder, ringbone, arthritis and IR/Cushings Disease. She beat them all and was happy and healthy when she was stung by a swarm of bees and suffered a stroke. I had to put her down in September 2015, one week after Nanner passed away. It was fitting that they went together. Summer was 25.
After Summer died Sierra stood over her grave for a whole month, only leaving it to come in twice a day for food. It was the saddest thing. People think because animals are so accepting of what life throws at them that they do not grieve, but they do.
By Jamie Coughlin
TONKA'S SNOW
SUMMER
MOLLY
Molly wasn't mine, she belonged to a friend whose youngest was too small to handle her yet. A friend of mine wanted a pony for her son and Summer needed company so Molly came to stay. Unfortunately Summer and Molly hated each other on sight and my friend didn't have enough time to spend with her so eventually Molly went to live with another family who had young girls to keep her active. Molly died in 2014 of old age, she was almost 40 years old!
Summer's successful battle against sinker founder is detailed in this Photobucket album.
COTTON
If you spend enough time around horses you will eventually fall for a horse that is not yours and can never be yours. One day the owner will whisk the horse away and you will never see it again. Cotton was the closest horse I have ever met to Tonka and he's probably gone by now as he'd be pretty old. For 10 years Cotton and I were able to pretend we belonged to each other! Horses never forget you!
KRISTIN ANN
Kristin Ann was a 23 year old daughter of Secretariat. Despite her royal pedigree Kristin Ann fell on hard times when she was bought by a greedy and neglectful man named Pete Coleman of VA. If there is any karma that man is in Hell where horses starve people to death over and over! Kathy and Pam and I bought her in a partnership. We knew she wouldn't have long but it was devastating when she died after 4 months unable to overcome the damage that ten years of starvation and no veterinary care had done to her body. At least we knew she had enjoyed the love and attention lavished on her during her last 4 months not only by us but by the many neighbors who became her fans.
Kristin Ann's Photobucket
SKIP THE SECRETS
Sierra, aka Skip The Secrets, was rescued by Beauty's Haven Equine Rescue in Morriston, FL. She was one of 3 mares and 2 foals who suffered in a veritable hellhole for horses. In the end only Sierra and Dingolay, another mare, survived. Kathy and I adopted her in a partnership. Sierra gained weight quickly but the heat in Ocala was more than she could handle. When she moved to cooler (?!) Panama City she immediately perked up and eventually gained back all her weight and then some as well as a couple of inches over all! At 5 she went for training for almost 4 months but her past mental/fear issues caused her trainer to throw up his hands in frustration. When she 7 we tried a Little Star Stables in Graceville, FL for her. Sierra was more mature by then and fit into the barn life much better than before. She made good progress but money woes kept her idle. After being downsized twice in 3 years I was unable to keep her in the style she demanded so I found her a great home with a friend in Virginia who had a beautiful farm. Unfortunately she broke a leg in the pasture one night and passed away in September 2016 at the age of 10.
Sierra's Photobucket
Sierra's Catalog Page
The Goats
No horse page of mine would be complete without mentioning Summer's goats! They are both gone now but they loved Summer more than life itself. Sid was a calendar boy for the Humane Society one year. He was 13 when he died of kidney failure. Nanner was a sweet, playful, silly goat who was quite a character. Nanner passed away a week before Summer, in September 2014, of kidney failure. When she died the horses stood over her grave all day the next day.
NANNER
SID
Last Updated 8/10/2021
TRIGGER
I didn't have Trigger for long. After being horseless for a couple of years I contacted the local rescue and brought home Trigger. Trigger was 30 years old but as I write this he is still alive and kicking at 33. I brought him home in August but in October Hurricane Michael roared through Panama City and destroyed my farm. I had no fences so I had to return him to the rescue. I was going to get him back but the lady that had borrowed him as a companion decided she didn't want to let him go after all. Two months after I got another horse she was on the phone wanting him gone right then! Luckily a home was found with a little girl who pampers him the way all old ponies should be!
BREYER
Breyer came to me in October 2019. A full year after Hurricane Michael I had the pasture cleared of the destroyed trees and new fences up. When Trigger could not come back the rescue had Breyer available. He was 14 and had lost an eye to cancer many years before. He must have been very low on the totem pole because he did not seem to miss the herd at all. I don't know why someone would name a real horse after a model horse (or an ice cream) but I never change names when I get an animal so Breyer the horse he is.
