Izzy's (very long) story

Alright, I promised the story of Izzy, a crazy TB mare that wormed her way into my heart. This is Izzy when we first got her. Looks great huh? Yea, didn't think so. They said she had GAINED weight. Yep. Gained. Gotten FAT in fact. Yep. FAT. So, we'll call this the fat picture. (I wish I were so fat)

Anyway, Izzy's real name is Isabel which is a very proper and lady like name. Doesn't fit her in the least so Izzy stuck. She was purchased at the back of the race barn as a cull by the father of the people we bought her from.(got that?! :D) She obviously never made it to the races because there is no tattoo. They were going to use her as a broodmare for paint crosses. She was halter broke, but as far as they knew, never ridden. They ended up gelding the paint for a riding horse, so Izzy was thrown by the wayside because they didn't feel comfortable breaking her.

When we went to see her, she was hard to catch, but pretty obedient when you finally caught her. She was just the biggest love bug and cookie hog we had ever seen and she wormed her big way into our hearts immediately. One problem though, she WOULD NOT get in our two horse. Wouldn't fit if we could get her in there!! So, we purchased her and had to wait for a week while they found a trailer we could take her home with.

Well, the time rolled around and she FINALLY was in our driveway, but completely freaked out from her long ride in an open top stock trailer.. tied BACKWARDS. She was tied that way so she wouldn't get rain in her face. Yep, drug through a thunderstorm in an open top stock trailer. When they untied her, she spazzed out, flipped over backwards, and got her halter stuck in a prong meant to hold a canvas top. We were terrified she'd kill herself or break a leg trying to get out of it, but she managed with only a scrape to the side of her jaw. She went immediately to her pen for some r&r and hay to munch on. The picture above was taken the next day.

Well, she gained weight and healed quickly so we started the breaking process. She had no clue how to lunge, but picked it up quickly. She took saddling in stride, although she didn't like the bridle. By the end of the first day, she was riding. Doesn't she look great? Almost like an old pro.

Well, the VERY NEXT DAY, I awoke to the worst sound you could imagine. It was like a crash, metal clank, and thud with screams. My heart sank. Well, you can imagine my surprise when I see this huge thoroughbred limping past the front gate. I thought maybe my husband had let her out by mistake so I called him. Nope. Didn't let her out and I'd better catch her and put her back in!!! Well, as I walked further into the pasture, I could see EXACTLY why she got out and why I couldn't put her back in. Half the coral had been torn down and standing next to it, was a donkey. Not just any donkey either. The exact same stud donkey that had gotten out the year before so he could try to breed our old gelding. (Yes, gelding.. completely skipped the pony mare and her filly)

There he is, the menace to society. That jack (or jerk) knocked down a cable and hot wire fence, three barbed wire fences, another hot wire, and half a coral to get to my poor Izzy. Apparently, he bent the coral panels bad enough to pin her and she jumped. She managed to slice her neck open, both her back flanks, down her sides, and then I saw the worst part. She had gashed her leg all the way down to the bone. It took us 20 minutes to catch her and then we lost her because the damn jack tried to breed her while we were holding her. So, we let go and she ran. It took another half an hour to catch the ass and his owner had to drag him home.. literally. Then another half hour to re-catch poor Izzy because she was so wound up.

The next day, Izzy was put onto the only trailer we could find that she would fit in (an open top that was only 5 feet tall) and hauled to the vet. Diagnosis: she might be lame for the rest of her life. The cut severed muscles and nerves. There is no telling if they will grow back. So we did hydrotherapy and crossed our fingers. Finally, in June, she was sound and ridable again. We began the slow process of breaking her to ride all over again.

We did several rides around the cotton fields and she was a star. By October, she was in her first parade and she was terrific. We took her on a trail ride through Palo Duro Canyon and she was better than the other horse we took, who had more training than her. Her only obstacle was a water puddle that grew teeth. She decided that running through a tree was her best option and ... well... at least mud is softer than rocks. The next week, we took her to the local roping and she pushed cattle. She LOVED pushing cattle.

As it always does, life happened. Our little packer pony took ill. It turns out she was allergic to the new weeds that sprung up in the pasture. Rather than make her suffer while we tried to kill them out (took 2 years BTW), we sold her to a lady who happens to live by my uncle. She's living happily as a packer pony for a 7 year old girl. So, obviously we were in need of another packer pony and I found one. Only, she was just a tad out of our price range and she was in foal as a 3 in 1 package. Well, that meant saving more money and needing more space.

We took a good hard look around and decided that Izzy would be the one that needed to go. As our tallest and calmest horse, she would be easiest to re home. It took awhile, but we finally found her a home where she'd have a friend and a family willing to send her to the trainers. Last I heard, she was re homed again. I wish her well. Even now when I go to the auctions, I still look for her.. hoping to get her back. She was definitely one of a kind. BTW, if you see her.. I want her.. k?