United States Eventing Association

USEA Lacey Elmer, an adult amateur from Webb City, Missouri, sent in the following story about her mare, Rosey. Thanks to Lacey, this young mare was given a second chance for life after a rough beginning. “As Christmas approaches, I know we all like to reflect and appreciate what we have this time of year. And I truly appreciate and love my little mare,” wrote Lacey. I hope you appreciate this story as much as I did., and give your own ponies a hug tonight.

Rosey’s Story

I told myself on the drive to northeast Oklahoma that I had nothing better to do on a lazy Sunday afternoon in March of 2008. And in southwest Missouri you rarely saw ads for three-year-old warmbloods for sale. I wasn’t fully prepared for what I saw in the muddy round pen when I got there. As an avid animal lover I detest any type of animal neglect; but as a human being I was horrified at what I saw. Standing before me in inches of manure and mud was the most pathetic equine I had ever laid eyes on. Scrawny, emaciated, wormy, boney, smelling of thrush and covered in rain rot she stood. People ask me what made me buy her that day. I wish I could say I saw that “look” in her eyes but the truth is I felt plain sorry for her. I could barely contain my pity for the animal or my contempt for the seller. It takes a long time for a horse to get in this bad of shape. I snapped some photos and called my Mom (and fellow horse lover) on the drive home to vent. And I did what any horse loving crazy person would do. I offered the seller a fraction of what she wanted for the animal; just so I could “sleep at night knowing I tried to get the mare out of that situation.” And sure enough she accepted my offer. I justified it thinking I could rehab her and resell her later on.

I was extremely nervous the entire time driving her immediately to my vet’s office (who also happens to be my Dad.) I feared the little mare would collapse in the trailer even with my careful driving. I warned both my Mom and Dad of the poor condition the horse was in but you could still see the surprise and horror in their faces when the mare stumbled off the trailer. After extensive blood work and an in depth physical exam my Dad said the mare was just being starved to death. He said she was at least 300 pounds underweight and would not make it through another Midwest winter in the shape she was in. Great; what had I gotten myself into?

I wish I could take credit for nursing Rosey back to health but that was entirely my Mom. Rosey wouldn’t eat the first two weeks she was at my parent’s farm; she would only lie down in the pasture for hours at a time. When she finally started to eat within six weeks she looked and acted like a different animal. My Mom decided to name the mare Second Hand Rose because she “blossomed” into such a lovely horse.

I took Rosey home with me and broke her out in late summer of 2009 and started taking her to small schooling shows in the summer of 2010 with the goal of participating in a USEA recognized event that fall if I felt Rosey was ready. With each cross-country schooling and show Rosey got more and more comfortable and confident in herself and in me. So I decided to take her to the recognized event at Briar Fox Farms (Area IV) held in late October 2010.

While Rosey was very nervous during warm-up she still was able to focus enough to put in a respectable dressage test which left us sitting in second place. After a foot perfect stadium round we maintained our second place position heading into cross-country on Sunday. I had ridden Training level with my previous horse for several years so I thought going back down to Beginner Novice would be no problem. But let me tell you I was just as nervous that morning as we walked into the start box. She warmed up full of vigor and as we walked into the start box I remember patting her on the neck and telling her to take good care of me and off we went on our first real cross-country run. It was a blast! Rosey was confident, took me to each jump, didn’t spook at the jump judges, and I had a big smile plastered on my face the entire course. When we crossed the finish flags I had an intense sense of personal satisfaction. Here I was an average adult amateur on a horse that I picked out, I broke out, I trained to jump, and just completed our first (hopefully of many) recognized horse trials and finished on our dressage score of 35.5! And to top it off that double clear round moved us into first place for our open Beginner Novice division! I was also the show’s winner for the Adult Rider Low Score award too. What an amazing weekend with my little 5 year old “chat pile gutter rat!”

More important than any hardware Rosey wins is what she has brought into my life. She was my reason to smile during a very difficult personal time that I went through and she was my motivation to lose 30 pounds that had crept on over the years! She has exceeded my expectations in so many ways and I feel so blessed and lucky to have her in my life. She will also hopefully help me to obtain my goal of competing in the 2011 American Eventing Championships.

My friends tell me that Rosey knows I saved her by getting her out of that bad situation. I tell them that I might have rescued her but my Mom is the one that saved her life. My Mom still goes with me to shows even though I am an adult and I truly cherish the time that we get to spend with each other at various horse trials.

I am so thankful that I took a chance that Sunday afternoon.

Briar Fox Horse Trials photos courtesy of Gr8pictures.