#PleaseAllowMeToIntroduce Madison’s Tuf Race aka “Maddy”

#PleaseAllowMeToIntroduce is a blog-idea that I got from one of my colleagues and it has inspired me to not only include the amazing people that I meet throughout the course of life but also the amazing animals that I have had the great opportunity to meet.

For the first horse to be included in the #PleaseAllowMeToIntroduce segment there was no question in my mind that it would be Maddy. Nothing against all of my other horses that I own or have met but Maddy has worked hard for this honor. Everything that I have learned when it comes to horses (besides driving) has been learned because of this horse. The first time I had a horse bolt with me, perform bad for me, and perform absolutely amazing for me was all with this horse. He packed me through years of 4H, High School Equestrian Teams, and so many adventures that I had made up in my mind.

I still remember, like it was yesterday, the first time that I laid eyes on the big sorrel tobiano paint. I was covering my nose due to the awful smell coming from the city dump which was situated just on the other side of the pasture and watching this eccentric horse woman clap her hands, yelling for her 3 horses to come up the drive. With the longest, floating, smoothest looking trot I have ever seen in a horse, I watched as Maddy rounded the bend and I knew he was going to be my dream come true.

Unfortunately for me, Maddy was not intended to be my horse. With my need-for-speed mentality I was hooked on the fact that his mom was a quarter horse racehorse; this obviously meant he was destined for speed right? While my sister spent the first week trying to ride Maddy, I was stuck at my Aunt’s on her overweight spotted ponies (they were POA’s if you want particulars). It was only a matter of time before I got my hands on Maddy.

To be specific, it was about 24 hours before I was riding Maddy. I would use apples that had fallen from the orchard to coax the large four year old over to the railing where I could then slide onto his back. I was probably about 45 pounds so to this day I still wonder whether or  not he knew that I was even riding him. I would use this crop that I had scavenged from the miscellaneous bucket in the tack room, it had this distinctive little hand on the end of it. I would use the little hand to tap Maddy on his cheekbone to signal him to turn in the opposite direction. 

When my mom was utterly shocked that such a small child wasn’t afraid to ride the 16 hand horse her big sister had just fallen off of, I could only smile to myself because I wasn’t afraid of Maddy – he would never hurt me. This proved true through all my years of showing him but what I was most proud of when it came to that big paint horse was that he inspired me, still does in fact! He was the kind of backyard pony that everyone made fun of and then, through hard work, and a lot of love for your teammate, he proved that he was at the same caliber in the competition ring as all of those insured, pretty-penny-spent horses. He helped me truly believe that if you work as hard as you possibly can than you will get exactly what you wanted.

I showed Maddy in everything, everything but saddle seat and driving (although I am sure he would make a great carriage horse). What he truly excels in is extreme trail competitions and that is what I would do a million of if I could have my big paint horse back 100% healthy and pain free. We did engligh, western, dressage, trail, showmanship, and ranch horse classes. His biggest gift to this world is his love for children. Being so tall it’s actually quite heartbreaking that he invokes so much fear in them with his size, he wants nothing more than hugs and kisses and treats. He’s kind of a ham like that!