#10 - Mini-Horse Family - Apache, Belle, Lilly, Missy, Max, Tyra
After living in Arizona for 21 years, we made plans to move back home to Montana. It’s funny that I should call Montana home because Kingman, Arizona is the one community I have spent the most time living in. Kingman truly felt like home and leaving my close friends, my job, my familiar surroundings, and our beautiful house was going to be difficult. My husband, Mike, was more ready to make the move than I was. We were going to be empty nesters, afterall, and so the timing seemed to be right. He also enticed me with the idea that having a horse in Montana, where grass and hay are plentiful, would make more sense.
I set my sights on buying mini-horses, as I thought that with smaller horses, I would have smaller problems. I was certain I wouldn’t feel overwhelmed as I had in the past, I would need less tack/equipment and I truly believed they would be more like a pack of dogs than a herd of horses. I thought that mini-horses would be a great way to ease back into horse ownership. I could not have been more mistaken!
I found some mini-horses in Billings, Montana and made arrangements to purchase an entire family once we got moved into our new home in Sapphire Village. Our “home” was a hunting cabin at The Blue Nugget, our bar/RV park/restaurant that my parents had been managing for us. There was enough land there for my mini-horse family. The minis I planned to purchase included Apache, aka Patches, a pinto stallion; Missy, a fluffy chocolate mare; Belle, a woolly buckskin mare; and Tyra, a cute little bay mare. Belle and Missy were both expecting foals that spring, so by the time I got there in July, I would have a family of six. I made plans to build a fence and get a shelter constructed before I brought them home.
A phone call in late spring drastically changed my plans. Their current owner told the story of how she had gone out to check the horses early that morning and had found her husband and Belle both passed away. Belle had given birth to a cremello filly a few days earlier and had just died. She figured that the shock of finding his beloved mare had caused her husband to have a massive heart attack. She was frantic and needed someone to care for the horses immediately. From Arizona, I made arrangements for their transport to The Blue Nugget.
My parents stepped right in and began caring for the mini-horse family which now included an orphan filly who we named Lilly. During harsh spring storms, the mares lived in their garage, the stallion in a hunting cabin, and Lilly in their house. Before long, Lilly had a playmate. Missy gave birth to a pinto colt who we called Max.
When we finally arrived at our new home in July, I found that I was in way over my head. I spent the summer traveling back and forth to Havre, which was about 3 hours away, to get my Montana English teaching certification. I was preparing for a new job 20 miles down the road in Hobson, learning to run our business, and getting our kids registered and ready for college all while mourning the loss of my home in Arizona. Mike’s job was based in Great Falls, so to top it off, I only saw him on weekends.
Once again, something that may have brought me joy was only adding to my feelings of overwhelm. When I had been in Arizona, I had daydreamed about certifying the minis as therapy animals, having them pull carts in parades and teaching them tricks. My reality was so far from what I had dreamed. In addition, this was taking place during the downturn of 2008, so our properties in Arizona were drastically losing market value. By the end of the summer, it was evident that we were not going to be able to sell any of our investments, which left us unable to buy a home with horse property and not much operating capital for The Blue Nugget.
That fall, I found loving homes for my mini-horse family. Once again, saying goodbye to the horses brought me a sense of relief. We moved into a rental in Hobson, which was close to the school. I drove out to the Nugget some evenings and every weekend. By the following spring, we made the decision to sell The Blue Nugget and move to Great Falls where at least we could live together on a full-time basis.
Looking back on my experience with the mini-horses, here are the lessons that I learned:
Trust your gut. A few weeks before I got the call from the mini-horses’ owner, I knew that I had made a mistake by promising to buy the horses. I even told Mike that when I got the phone call, but he said I needed to honor the deal I had made and give her the relief she needed. I knew going in that I was making a mistake, but I did honor that deal and the horses ended up in good homes.
A horse is a horse. Even though these horses were little, they were still horses. They still had the same dietary requirements, veterinary care, hoof care, and training demands.
Don’t put the cart before the horse. Bringing the minis home before I had their home ready only added to the complications and feeling of overwhelm that I was experiencing. Horse ownership (especially a family of horses) is a huge commitment.
Take on one life change at a time. With so many demands on my time and new areas to learn about, I had very little time for the horses. Because of this, not only did I feel overwhelmed, but also guilty that I wasn’t giving them the attention that they needed.
