Bye Bye, Gunny

 

Kevin and I have recently been discussing plans for our horses, mainly, our Thoroughbreds. Going through our list of 10 now at the farm, and making plans about who is going to winter where. We simply cannot keep them all; and besides, we got them for the sole purpose of finding homes for them.
At the same time we are doing this, one of my 4-Hers/student's Grandmother had built a barn and had asked me to start looking for a horse for her Granddaughter.
One day an idea occurred to me, and I spoke to Kevin about it, and that weekend, I had arranged to sell our OTTTB Gunny to Libby as her fist horse.

 

It was a bittersweet arrangement; I love Gunny and hate to see him leave my barn; but at the same time, he is going to an excellent home with a girl who adores him to pieces. He will be local, and I can see them both and help them if need be. She has been taking lessons on Gunny already, and I knew she can handle him, as her riding skills are blooming right before my eyes. Gunny likes her, and they get along great. What more could I ask for?

 

I had this idea that all my OTTTBs offered for sale would go on to be hunter-jumpers, dressage horses, showing, eventing, being "great" and have awesome careers. Gunny might end up at some 4-H events, but I don't think Libby plans on doing a great many shows. I have to let that idea go. It doesn't matter what the horse will be doing; what matters is that they are in good, permanent homes where their people love them, and care bout them. That is number one, and that is where Gunny is going.

I will probably cry and blubber when we deliver him there next week, but I know he is only about 20 minutes away and I can always go see him. It's hard; as this is my first one I have let go.
I've been through a lot with Gunny; with his aloof attitude it was hard at first to connect with him. Then with his terrible illness this spring, he finally connected, and allowed us "in." Now that he is all well, and I find myself attached, it just makes it hard.

On a similar note; I advertised our mare Jazz for sale on a equine website. A few weeks later I got a very interested person a few hours away. I thought, ok maybe this is "the one" for Jazz! Then suddenly in the past few weeks her weight has dropped, she got rain rot, and thrush - and then when we had work done on out high tensile fence, a strand broke one night, and wouldn't you know but she got her hind legs in it?! Luckily the strand had no tension on it, otherwise she would have had lacerations. As it was broken, she only suffered a lot of small cuts and scratches. Still, she was bloody, and sore, swollen, and miserable. This, coupled with her weight loss, made me decide to contact the interested party, and let her know I was taking Jazz off the market. I deleted the ad also.
I sinply can't sell a horse in this condition, and jazz needs us right now. It was disappointing but I will try again to find her a home in the winter or the spring.

So this is sort of a goodbye, Gunny. But it is the beginning of a whole new bright future for him! For that, I am happy.