Three Years in the Making

I'm proud of Micah for knowing what she wanted and making it happen.  Three years ago, she bought Liberty's foal.  A purely sentimental decision to buy the foal out of the mare she used to ride, love, and own.  It was a decision that went against all logic.  Micah bought Lanie knowing she'd be in NYC accumulating a quarter million dollars in student loan debt while paying monthly board and expenses for a filly in Texas.  Micah didn't look left nor right despite the fact that she's normally as indecisive as I.   There wasn't any agonizing though she's as careful with money as I am careless.  She knew it had to be.  She knew because, as she says in the video, she "just has so many feelings."

Lanie turned three this week and, on Tuesday, Micah began the process of training her under saddle. We didn't know what to expect, having heard stories that ran the gamut from the horse sitting down, breaking out in a sweat and trembling, bucking, running away. Every time I watched her or handled her, I'd hear Mick Jagger singing "I'll never be your beast of burden" in my head.  (Especially after she kicked me when I was working with her, but let's let bygones be bygones.) We've all seen the Westerns of the horse being "broken" in the round pen by the cowboy that usually ends up in the dirt. 

When the time came, she was totally unphased to have Micah climb on her back.