Poncho came to me on Thanksgiving in my 11th year and his 9th. All the way from southern Alberta. I found him in an ad in the good ol' Western Producer. I had put a call out to the universe years before for a horse. Specifically one of Arab blood. I was just drawn to the breed. Poncho arrived at our farm late in the day, we were still finishing the fence so he had a place live. A proper horse pen. Welding rods lit up the night as the sucker rod round pen, his new home, was nearing completion. I unloaded Ponch from the two horse trailer tripping over my own jaw (I had not seen him before this moment). He was a massive 15.3 hands compared to my own small stature. He wanted to go, wander, inspect- So we did just that. I walked him all over the farm. He munched on grass and checked out his new home and I checked him out. From that moment on, I did not want to be away from him. Being a mother now, I can relate the feeling to not wanting to be away from your child. However, I was more the child in this relationship. He was a wise soul, and mischievous at the same time.
I wasn't the first one on him. My mischievous side told me to put my younger brother on first to see how rideable he was... Kurt stayed on, and the horse didn't bolt or buck so I hauled Kurt off and I got on, forever. There were days when I would take off for 8 hours. Disappear into the hills South of the farm or cross the creek North to check out the world, fields and feel the wind whip through my hair. A girl and a horse sounds so cliche, but it truly was a spiritual experience, and still is.
Poncho was a point-and-go horse, he has climbed cliffs that I just shake my head at now, why I even attempted to climb them, but he would do it again and again. He would swim into ponds, across creeks and into rivers. One of the most memorable times was swimming in the Peace River and jumping off into the river to engage in a mud fight with one of my girlfriends using our horses as shields. We then covered our horses in muddy hand prints while Ponch would paw and splash water up onto us.
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| Kurt & I headed out for a ride. Kurt is in his PJs and I in my rubbers |
I wanted to share the joy of riding with my brother and we often headed out together, him on the back of the saddle hanging on for dear life. We rode down trails but mostly into the fields to check out how combining or swathing or seeding was going. I bought another horse a couple years later as a weanling and she became everyone else's horse to ride. Kurt rode Nevada with me everywhere, we used to race up and down through the fields. I think I tell my husband that story every time we head back to the farm...
I learned recently that Poncho passed on. I had given him away a couple years back to a family in central Alberta. He quickly became part of the family and continued the cycle of packing kids and enjoying the pasture life. One day, he just lied down and went to sleep. He was 27 years old. It was tough to hear, I still get tears in my eyes thinking about it. But more happy thoughts than anything. He was an amazing animal and I am grateful that he touched my life and others the way that he did. Thank you for the years, the lessons and the life.
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| My last ride down the road on the good ol' boy. Miss you. |
