The Littlest Pot of Gold

After what felt like a lifetime of waiting, the most exciting thing in the last few years finally happened: Holly had her baby.

Not to sound completely dramatic but she was so far overdue that I had hit my “wall” of excitement and I was 100% over the baby, which all changed the second that I saw him. The barn that I had Holly at is called Gentle Oak Stables and is owned and run by a lady named Gina. Gina is very near and dear to my heart because she is a big part of who I am today. She was not only the person who taught me how to ride but she is the person who pushed me as a youngster with my young horse, She has seen me succeed, fail, be hurt, bad relationships – the thing about long-term teachers is that they kind of become psychiatrists through all the issues of life. If she can teach me how to do a perfect backwards gate in trail than she can tell me why my boyfriend cheated on me right? Gina was also my 4H leader and OHSET coach through all my years of competition and was probably the best coach that I have ever had in all sports because, no matter what, she always cared about me and my safety first and foremost. When it came time for such an important event for me and my blossoming horse career, it made perfect sense that I would go to the trusting hands of Gina and Gentle Oak Stables.

Gina told me that the night of April 18th was the night; I didn’t believe her. Why should I of? I had been wrong a total of 43 times exactly before! Upon her request, I had grudgingly complied with staying the night in the RV they have parked right next to the barns. Armed with a heater, a sleeping bag and an old comforter I figured that I was sealing my fate for a crick in the neck for a full day of work starting at 6:00 am the next day.

After doing the chores at the house that I was house sitting for I went in and checked on her where I witnessed her first contraction. We all know that contractions are a definite sign that the baby is coming, it is also known that the contractions can take almost a whole day for the process. I wasn’t too concerned, I was still convinced it would be quite some time.

My next alarm was 1:45 am: nothing. I went into her stall and waited for quite some time but didn’t even see a contraction. I did take a second to take a quick selfie with Holly because the one thing I have enjoyed the most about her pregnancy is the fact that, for the first time in me owning her, she actually let’s me be affectionate with her.  

When my alarm went off at 3:30 am, I somehow managed to stumble out of the RV, fluttering my eyelids the whole time over contacts 100% not okay with being left in overnight. I looked at holly and, sure enough, she was snoozing in the back of her stall. I shoo my head, muttered a grumpy “I told you so” out loud directed at Gina in the house and curled back up on the RV couch for a few more Z’s. 

The final alarm went off at 4:45 am and I was none too pleased about it. Rushing through the order of operations that I had to complete before getting to work I hustled into the barn telling myself that I had to take a quick peek in otherwise I would be lying to everyone later when I told them that I did. There was holly, still snoozing in the back of her stall. “That’s my slim, thin runnin’ machine!” I thought to myself as I turned away. At about a 90 degree turn from where I had looked at her I felt myself come fully awake as I realized what I had just thought in my head. Holly wasn’t thin anymore. At least she wasn’t the last time I saw her an hour and a half ago. I whipped back around, wide awake and with searching eyes. 

“What are those little toothpick things …?”  

Trained well in the social media time that I live in I snapped a picture just to see if it showed up on there as well. It did. And if that wasn’t enough the little minuscule all legs horse came tottering over towards me. I was SO awake! 

I called the home phone as fast as I could. In two rings my mom answers, “hello?” 

“Hey! You gonna get out of bed and come see my new horse or what?!”

“You missed the whole thing, didn’t you?” My mom dryly said. 

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud, she knew me well. “Yeee-upp!” I exclaimed! 

I called my boss and left him a message saying my horse was in labor,- lie but I really wanted to make sure everything was okay. Texted table who I knew would be dying to know and who was also working the morning shift with me at work so that she would know I was going to be home “sick” today.  Then I called Greg the night audit so that he would know. While I was on the phone with him, waiting for him to finish our required Hilton Garden Inn phone welcome, the little creature wobbled right into the water buckets! It upended one on is head and started to panic. As quickly as I could I fixed the bucket and got the baby out before momma panicked and still tried to answer Greg. I’m sure if he didn’t get the message when I talked to him he understood it by the time that Rachel got there 15 minutes later. 

Then I posted its official welcome to the world:  

To be honest, I thought the little palomino baby was a filly. I had her all named (a Sweet Dash of Hancock aka Bradlee) by the time my mom got ther … And informed me that it was a colt. “Look at it’s butt – 1 hole or 2?” She asked. 

“One …” I ventured. 

“Boy.” She said with a laugh. 

I was so in love. I couldn’t leave him alone and only left for short intervals. That night Morgan stopped by and I realized how good it was to see her and chat with her. She’s getting married next week and I am so proud of her and everything she has overcome and accomplished in the last 5 years. I feel like a nobody next to her! I love her to death and right then and here bowed that after her honeymoon I was gong to make a better effort it see her and DJ and continue to have the laughter and smiles that she ALWAYS brings into my life. You really need to surround yourself with people like that! 

All in all I couldn’t be prouder of Holly or feel more blessed with the little palomino colt with a blaze that i got. He’s quite the ham too so you should enjoy all of the great pictures i will be posting!