Strawberry: The Horse With Heart
Precision Performance: Discovering the Westernaires
A friend of ours told my mom that her daughter was in the Westernaires. My sister was her best friend. One trip to Jefferson County Fairgrounds to watch them train for a rodeo show they were going to put on up in Estes Park.
The team we saw training was called the Precisionettes. They performed maneuvers like the propeller which was two columns of horses moving at a gallop in a circle around a fixed center. Another one was called thread the needle where riders on horses would run from each corner of the arena and cross paths in the middle. It was an amazing display of talent and coordination. We were hooked.
A Gentle Giant: Welcoming Strawberry the Horse
The first horse we ever had turned out to be exceptional, and for more than just us. He was a strongly built strawberry roan gelding standing 16 hands 2 inches. The prior owners, being extremely creative, lol, named him Strawberry. He was around six years old when we got him, a gentle giant, and way more clever than your average horse.
The Carrot Heists and Escape Artist Adventures
Our neighbors, who were also in the Westernaires, were avid gardeners. They grew lots of vegetables including carrots, which were Strawberry's favorite. Strawberry would frequent those carrots by laying down on the ground, then rolling, while scooting, under the fence to get to them. Many mornings were spent shooing him out of the garden until we blocked the bottom part. Then he just jumped the fence.
Our neighbors owned the 10 stall stables where we rented a stall. If by chance we or our neighbors left tasty oats or horse candy by the barn then Strawberry would reach over the half gate of his stall and use his lips to unlock the gate so he could sample those treats. He loved apples too.
Roasting Apples: A Childhood Mishap
Our neighbors' son, Kevin, and I were best buds in first grade. Both of us were mischievous and didn't listen much to others trying to keep us safe.
One day Kevin came over with an apple, a knife and a set of matches and asked, "Want to roast an apple?" That sounded fun so I grabbed my coat and we headed out to the stables where we could find straw.
We went to the area where the hay was stored and used one of the empty troughs to set up a safe little fire. I lit the match and that is when Kevin realized he dropped the knife so we started looking for it. Within a second the match burnt my finger and I threw it away... into the haystack behind us.
The stack went up quickly and Kevin and I were desperately trying to put it out. I think we would have stayed there and perished in the flames but Kevin's sister Karen came in and grabbed us, saying we had to free the other horses. I owe my life to that girl. We went out and did just that, freeing them all while we watched the stables burn.
Deep Wounds: Strawberry’s Injury and Care
The firemen came, knocked down the metal power box and started putting out the fire. Strawberry's curiosity got the best of him and he walked over to the firebox and hoofed at it, catching his foot in it up beyond his ankle.
This made him scared and he tried to get out of it which only made things worse. We found a way to get his hoof out of the box quickly. That is when we noticed blood pooling around his foot.
We called the Vet and he hurried over. He had to put a nose twitch to hold Strawberry steady while he worked on him. Strawberry hadn't just cut a vein, he had cut an artery. It was in between two bones on his leg. It was hard to get to, hard to stop the bleeding and hard to stitch up.
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It was hours before the vet was done. Afterwards Strawberry just stood |
The vet said that we needed to feed and water him every day while he stood there. He said if Strawberry laid down he would never get back up.
Compassionate Correction: When Words Aren’t Enough
That night I was in the kitchen, waiting on dinner. My mom had warned me that dad was coming home and that I should prepare for punishment. I decided not to wait and grabbed a donut as I fled to my room.
Later, my dad came to my room. He asked if I understood what I had done. He said he didn't believe in spanking in order to punish a child. He said he and mom did agree that this was an exception. I needed to never forget and so he spanked me. He told me to remember the danger I was in, that Kevin was in, the other horses, and what happened to Strawberry. Then he hugged me with a tear in his eye, told me he was glad that I was safe, tucked me in and told me he loved me. After that, throughout the rest of my life, and with all the mistakes and mischief, he always found a way to mentor me without that kind of physical discipline.
The Slow Road to Recovery: Caring for Strawberry
Every day for around 5 weeks my sister and I fed and watered Strawberry while he stood in the pasture. We set up a temporary fence to keep the other horses away and had to cover him twice when it rained. Finally he started moving on his own. Gradually we start walking him, then eventually we lunged him. We took him to a compound and they exercised him in a pool. It impressed on me the fragility of all God's creatures, even the strong ones. I have never forgotten this fortunate lesson.
Strawberry’s Legacy: A Horse for the Ages
Around two years later the family was in transition and we couldn't stay in that house anymore. Strawberry, now healthy, was given to the Westernaires. We continued to be part of that amazing group. I rode Strawberry many times until we moved into another house and I could get another horse.
Rookie Westernaires are called tenderfoots. This is where Strawberry excelled. Thousands of tenderfoot kids rode him. He was also used in the national stock show and travelled the country to perform with the Precisionettes. This was usually because someone's horse was sick or injured.
He was great in Gymkhanas, especially in flag and barrel races, winning several ribbons throughout the years, but wasn't too good at poles due to his size.
He lived to be 34 years old and was given awards after his passing for being one of the Westernaires best horses of all time. I never heard a bad word about him, well except that he had a thing about goats, go figure.
We were truly blessed by him.
Now you have come to know him too.
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