She won't come to me...

As most know we suffered a terrible loss this spring. One of the horses we lost was Star a beautiful Arabian mare that was my partner for fourteen wonderful years. I was crushed beyond words and to be honest I craved nothing more than to follow them into oblivion.Especially Star.

Star September 2011

 Truly dear reader I battled with thoughts of self destruction of epic proportions.

A week after the last day with my best friend someone decided that the best way to help me find the will to live was to find me a horse I could connect with, one that would have the kind of bond with me I had with Star. 

Nova July 2016

They found me Nova who looks and acts remarkably like my dear old friend and literally follows me around the pasture like I am another horse. |She is a real babysitter and is worth her weight in gold when it comes to teaching children about horses. The last few weeks she has been losing weight. I tried diet changes, taking her away from the herd in case she was getting picked on. Nothing seemed to help so we took her to the vet to have her teeth checked etc. The vet floated her teeth and checked her over and we brought her home. |

There are wolves in our area and I lost both my donkeys this spring so needless to say I get a little nervous when a horse is sick. On Sunday I was off work and I was out getting things pinned down for winter at camp when I noticed Nova wasn't with the herd. It was raining pretty good and I had to run a couple of time sensitive errands so I hustled to town and back and started the search. There are 3 fairly serious coulees in the pasture and we started with the steepest. a million scenarios ran through my mind. She fell, the wolves got her, stolen?  

For the better part of two hours I searched. 

Lily is a Percheron x QH that I bought a few days after Nova, she is sweet and personable and just came back from three months of training with Cute and Sassy Cowgirl. ( seriously if you need a trainer check this girl out) Lily was following along as I searched for Nova calling as I went. Please understand dear reader that as a rule, when I call Nova comes. She knows her name and my voice and is usually at the gate. 

After 2 hours of searching I started to cry. I was sure that my horse was dead and my heart would never beat again. When I started to cry Lily reacted very strongly. I choked on my tears now screaming Nova's name in the pouring rain, very dramatic I can assure you and were it a movie I know there would be a lump in the throats of all watching. Lily spun around and ran screaming back to the herd about halfway back to camp, holed up in the bush in the middle coulee. She screamed over and over and as she did, no word of a lie, my herd disappeared into the bush, then burst out with Nova in front. The horses ran right up to me and stood around smelling me to see if I was ok and they stood around like a protective bunch of siblings as I hugged Nova and wept with relief into her mane. I don't have to tell you dear reader how that moment felt. It is amazing to me how Lily knew I was losing hope and I needed her help and also that so quickly the new horses have settled in and accepted me. 

Truly if you want to know where you stand with this cowgirl you need to count horses then add one. ;)