THTSL Manual - "Tribute to Roxy"

THTSL manual  -  “Tribute to Roxy”

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“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

  ~  Theodore Roosevelt

You hear me mention my horse, Roxy, quite a bit both here and on my organization’s web site.  I thought you might like to hear how Roxy entered my life, because, let’s face it, it’s not everyone who owns a horse! And, what does a 50+ y/o woman need with a four-legged hay burner, anyway? Trust me in this one: no one was more surprised than I was to suddenly find our family’s number increase by 1. Except for maybe my husband. He says this one was entirely on me, but judging by the grin he gets on his face every time I tell him about Roxy’s latest escapade, I know he’s secretly glad she is ours, too.

The year was 2002, and it was one of those milestone types of years for me. We had just moved to Pennsylvania two years previously, but I had not had the chance to get out much and learn my new surroundings. You see, my mother lived with us and she needed full time care as she was suffering from terminal lung cancer. So, for my first 2 years here in PA, I was more or less confined to my house. Even a trip to the food store meant I had to have someone come and stay with her for that hour or so that I was out. I relied heavily on the Hospice workers for their help.To make matters worse, for our first few years here,  my hubby worked away all week long and only came home on the weekends. So, I was not able to get out and meet people. The feeling of isolation was often crushing for me, but I was more focused on taking care of Mom than worrying about my own social life.  However, almost all too soon, in the early spring of 2002, Mom was gone.  Suddenly, I was totally alone in a strange new city and had to start all over again. Filled with great sorrow, there was no one at home for me to take care of, or to converse or interact with. I felt as if I was totally alone in the world, and it terrified me and made me feel quite useless.

That’s when I started going to the back fence of our yard and watching the people ride their horses in the neighboring field. It all looked like so much fun! In another part of my blog, I mentioned how I met Cora Jean, and how she let me take a ride on her horse. One day, Cora introduced me to Cowboy, the man who ran the stables, and he invited me to come on over. I felt so stupid! I could barely walk, thanks to Osteonecrosis and two recently implanted artificial joints, but I was so lonely that I decided to take a chance. 

Cowboy could see how much I loved all animals and how the horses just fascinated me. He urged me to come over any time that I wished, and I could tell that he meant it. He totally ignored the fact that I walked with a bad limp,  and he treated me just like anybody else. It was almost as if he couldn’t see that there was something wrong with me, that it didn’t seem to matter one way or the other. Then, one day about two weeks after our first meeting, he asked me a question:

“How would you like to learn how to drive a little horse cart?” 

I thought he was nuts! I mentioned how difficult it was for me to walk,  and asked him how on earth I could ever learn something so complicated.  He just smiled and said, “Marie…you can do anything you want, if you want to bad enough.”

Something inside of me just kind of snapped. I thought: Why not? There was nothing and no one at home for me to get back to or tend to, so why not? We agreed to meet the following morning for my first ‘lesson.’

Within two months, I had learned how to tack up a horse to a cart, and to drive him all around the barn, the fields, and eventually, out onto the streets. My first little horse was really Cowboy’s own Shetland pony, named Dakota. Dakota and I shared a special bond. No one really paid him much attention because he was so small and wasn’t’ “flashy” enough for them to ride (or strong enough, for that matter). But, for me, he was just perfect. He would pull the little pony cart with me at the reins just as proudly as he could, probably glad to have a ‘job’ to do. He felt useful.  And,  I began to feel not quite so handicapped any more.  I was one of the few people Dakota didn’t kick at, or try to nip. In fact, he would actually smile at me – I swear!

Then, it was August. The whole gang was going up to the horse auction at New Holland, in Lancaster county, real Amish country. New Holland is also infamous for being an animal slaughter house as well, where people would buy horses and cattle at the auction and then sell them for slaughter by the pound.  For many horses, New Holland was the very last stop. It is also where horse people would go to buy horses for their own purposes, either for pleasure riding or for working on a farm. Cowboy wanted to buy a couple of new horses for his farm, and he invited me to come along for the ride.

The whole group of us went up that day. As we walked through the holding pens, an idea began to take hold in me. I spotted several lovely small horses, bigger than Dakota but not as big as my friends’ horses, and found myself wishing I could own one. Cowboy realized how I was feeling and began to help me look. I found a handsome little pony, called a Hackney, with delicate bone structure and about 3 and a half feet tall at the shoulder.

“Nah! You don’t want that one,” he said with a tone of disapproval. “He’s too small and couldn’t ever pull a cart through the city streets.”

So, we walked around some more. Eventually, we came to this horse with a huge rump – and who stood about four feet tall at the shoulders. This horse was solid! She was anything but ‘fine boned’ and had a chest on her almost a foot and a half wide.

“Now, this is a pulling horse!” Cowboy announced with confidence. “Just look at her muscular chest and flanks!” Sure enough, she was huge, mass-wise. “She’s what they call a Welsh Cob pony and they are meant to pull,” he finished with satisfaction.

However, to me she looked like a small moose! I wasn’t so sure. In fact, I thought she was far too big for me and I wasn’t that impressed with her at all.

Then, she turned around and looked at me. As God is my witness, I will never, ever forget that look! It was sad, confused, and almost pleading with me, as if to say, “PLEASE! Get me out of here!” That’s when Cowboy and I noticed the sold sticker on her backside. Her number tag had a line through it, signifying she had been sold. Even worse, the line through the number was in red – meaning, she was destined for slaughter.

“Wait right here! I’ll be right back!’ Cowboy said, breaking out into a near-run. I stood with the horse and gently petted her. Her eyes never left mine and they contained so much gentleness and sadness that they nearly broke my heart. Then, she began to rub her head against my arm ever so gently;  and I was completely and totally hooked. But…she was sold, and I couldn’t have her.

Or so I thought.

“Marie! We can buy her!!” Cowboy yelled at me across the crowd on his way back to me.  

Without even thinking about it one second longer, I decided to buy this horse! She cost me only $100 more than the previous buyer paid for her and almost before I realized it, I was a brand new horse owner! There was a flurry of activity that ensued as we prepared her for the ride home. Fortunately, one of Cowboy’s buddies was there with his trailer and offered to bring her on home for me.

Since I live in the Roxborough area of Philly, I called her “Roxy’s Brown Sugar”, or simply Roxy for short. It fit her to a “T”.  From the day we brought her home, Roxy and I were a team. Within one month, she was already pulling the cart. Strangely enough, my walking improved, too! Going down to the stables every day, I got the exercise I so badly needed. When Roxy was out in the field and I came down to the fence line, she would run lickety-split over to the fence the instant she realized I was there.  I visited her every single day, rain or shine or even snow when winter arrived! We were simply inseparable.

The following spring, I was once again in the hospital getting another joint replaced, this time my left knee. My riding crowd friends told me that the whole time I was in the hospital, Roxy would not come out of her stall. She was way off her feed and would just stand facing the corner of her stall, refusing to pay attention to anyone or anything.

When I came home it was only about one week before I painfully and slowly made my way down the yard to the fence, only to find Roxy not in the field. Cowboy spotted me and called out, “Marie! Call out Roxy’s name!”   This, I did. We heard this loud whinney from within the barn – and Cowboy ran to go get her.

Out of the barn she came trotting as fast as her legs would take her – and she ran right up to the fence where I was standing. I tossed her the apples I had with me and she started eating them up like crazy! The two of us remained there, me in my yard and she in her field, for the next hour or so, until the pain overtook me so badly that I had to go back in and lie down.

We have been together ever since, even though she now lives about 35 miles away from me. Her new stable and farm is just gorgeous and she is very happy there. For both of us, the weekends are when we each come alive as I go up there every weekend, almost without fail. I talk to her as if she was a person and, I swear, she understands every word! Our relationship is very unique as we are connected at the soul. Of that, I have no doubt at all.

I can’t help but feel that Roxy was meant to be in my life. She came to me at a time when I felt lost and alone – so very, very alone – and was in such great emotional and physical pain. In all truth, I think we more or less saved each others’ lives.

As for my hubby, he also loves her and he recognizes that she and I were meant to be a team. She has given far more to me as an individual, and to us as a couple, than we could ever give to her. She was one of the craziest, most extravagant decisions and purchases I’ve ever made in my life and I thank God every day that I took that chance.

What can I say but, “Roxy….I love you!”

Roxy !

Dakota giving me a cute smile!