For one whole year now our lives have been so enriched by the beautiful mini, Sugar.
She started her new life with us living on our small 2 acre lot, making friends with many chickens and our goose that our son found abandoned with changing irrigation pipe.
I don’t know who was more excited about having a pony living in our backyard, my daughter or myself? It was like a fairytale.
Sugar and Goose Goose were always together. It was common to find them together or not far from each other. Spending every evening taking in the sunsets. Then our 4H pigs arrived and Sugar was very curious.
Sugar seemed content with her chicken friends, Goose Goose, and now the pigs. Then came the day that we brought down our mare, Brook, so my son could have her closer for 4H activities. We came to the decision to put Sugar with Brook in the pasture we rented, therefore Brook wouldn’t be so lonely.
At first, Sugar did not want to leave the yard. She can be quite stubborn when she wants to be and will do it her way weather you like it or not. I pulled and pulled and pulled a lot more, until finally, she decided to walk down the road.
When we came around the corner and Brook was in clear view, I never thought I would see as much life in that little pony as I did right then, EVER!
It was apparent Sugar was so ecstatic to have some equine companionship, and from that day in April until now, we have not been able to remove her from the other horses. She now lives on my dad’s property where she has lots and lots of pasture to roam with her horse friends.
In May, Sugar got to do her first parade at The Memorial Day rodeo celebration here in Spray. She did really good, except I think she wanted to get it over with as soon as possible. Maybe it was anxiety and nerves, but I had to walk with her and my daughter and hold her back a majority of the time. She wanted to go so fast, her saddle kept coming loose and I was constantly pushing my daughter back up. Maybe not as successful as we hoped, but there’s always next year.
It took us until Summer to get all of Sugar’s winter coat combed out. Summer was mild and we had minimal scorchers. Every evening we would walk down to the horses and feed and water them. Whenever my son would ride Brook, my daughter had to ride Sugar.
We learned the first time that we can’t leave Sugar alone when we took Brook to the 4H horse meetings. The first time we did, we left in the yard so she wouldn’t be completely alone. However, that was a mistake. She carried on for hours and hours and the neighbors were less than trilled. Needless to say, Sugar went to the rest of the 4H horse meetings.
Summer provided many many memories. Sugar loved going to all the 4H horse meetings. Most of the horses were terrified of her though, most had never been around a pony.
We learned real fast that it wasn’t often that Sugar had been loaded in a trailer. We would fight and fight with her to load into the trailer and then stand back when she would take a flying leap back out. During one 4H horse meeting we watched as our five year old would walk in and out of the trailer with Sugar. The five year old trained her to load and made our weeks of struggles look unnecessary. If only we let her do it in the first place.
Once Summer ended and after Fair, Miss Sugar went up to pasture with Brook, where she joined Prince, Jiggs, and Pearl. Shortly after she was introduced to sweet Sage and they immediately bonded.
She was a retired Percheron work horse who my sister got for free. She was able to live her days out in our pasture before we lost her in October of this year.
This Fall Sugar got the opportunity to go help with rounding up cattle. She was being her stubborn self, the cinch on her saddle gave out, and she got to spend her time being walked around by the kiddos. This round-up was extra exciting with Brook’s headstall breaking and us putting it back together with some old wire. Prince decided to be extra stubborn as well and climb the trailer when he was tied, getting his hoof stuck in the trailer opening and cutting almost all the way into his tendons. His stubborn behavior then lead him to be put in the corral for two months.
Sage was incredible and proved his warrior abilities by navigating tough terrain.
Sugar has given us a year full of memories that will be unforgettable, and hopefully many more memories to come. She has a way to always put a smile on your face. We have not had the best year with the health of our horses and hope to have a better year for 2020.
Horses have such a peaceful nature about them, they are better than any therapist you will ever see, maybe not as cheap, but better.
Happy New Year!