# Memoirs of a Horse's Slave: Jessabel's Journal



## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

*2 July, 2011*

Didn't know where else to stick this, so I figured I couldn't go wrong in the journal section.  Just a little warning, it's a bit of a novel.

I'm worried about a friend of mine (well, my mom's friend, actually). She's been wanting a horse for a very long time, and she does have some experience with them. I believe she had horses as a kid and she helps out some relatives who have horses. So she does know what she's doing... sort of. 

Long story short, we heard that a lady from our old boarding barn needed to sell her horse or face surrendering her to a rescue. We (me, my mom, and our friend) went to look at the horse, and she's a tall, beautiful, jet-black Tennessee Walker. I don't know much about her except that she was supposedly shown in Saddleseat, and the current owner poured tons of money into her for training. However, the owner had a bad fall off the horse (owner's fault, from what I'm told) and never rode her again. Jetta (the horse) has been ridden a few times since by other people, but otherwise, nothing's been done with her. 

My friend and I rode her once, and I personally didn't care for her under saddle, although she's very gentle on the ground. She's just very rusty and out of shape. Plus I'd never ridden a gaited horse before, and it wasn't really my cup of tea. 

Our friend however, is absolutely in love with her. She has her heart set on this mare, and she's going to buy her if she and the owner can come to an agreement on price. That doesn't give any guarantees since the owner is a bit difficult and is asking way more than what the horse is worth. But then again, she's at the end of her financial rope and is desperate to rehome her. So it's anyone's guess how this is going to play out.

Here's where I'm nervous: Our friend lives in town but wants to lease a small farmette that she's had her eye on. That's where she's planning on keeping the horse, assuming things work out the way she's planning. But I don't know if she's for sure going to lease the place. And my mom offered to let her keep the horse at our place if she needed to. 

I wouldn't have a problem with that, except _we have nowhere to put another horse_. We only have two stalls and one pasture. I'm really concerned that our friend will go and buy this horse and then have nowhere to go with her. 

Also, like I said before, Jetta is rusty and needs retuning. If she comes up with any problems, I don't think I'll be able to help her because I know nothing about gaited horses and my training experience in general is very limited. I'm afraid that our friend is going to get in over her head. This is the first horse she's looked at, after all. 

I foresee this situation either turning out very nicely, or being a huge disaster. 

On the plus side, IF this works out, I'll have someone to ride with. That would be really nice. But emphasis on IF. 

*sigh* Sorry for the enormous wall of text. Just had to get that off my shoulders.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

*7 July, 2011*

Well, Victor is still lame (bruised the sole of his hoof last week). Not nearly as bad as last Wednesday, but he's sore on his front left foot. He was almost completely sound the last couple days, so I took him off the bute, but today he was ouchy again and I just gave him another dose. 

The vet doesn't think it's a big deal, so that's good. It really scared the crap out of me last week when he could barely walk. I've never seen a bruised foot that bad before, and I was scared to death it would be something serious and incurable. But he's improving slowly. Thank our lucky stars.


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## Jessabel (Mar 19, 2009)

*8 July, 2011*

Rode Norman today! Our friend (yes, the one who wants the TWH) and her daughter came over for a while and they rode him. He was just fine. =] My mother keeps thinking that he's some wild bronco, and I keep telling her it's all in her head. Which it is. He rarely ever lifts more than one foot off the ground at a time. And he tuckers out in about ten minutes. He'd be the perfect horse for her with some more saddle time. 

And about the TWH, I guess it's a done deal. Our friend bought her. She's looking into renting this really cool old property that used to be a dairy farm. It's got a bunch of old barns and buildings that could probably be converted to accommodate a horse. They're in pretty good shape for being as old as they are. My mom and I went to look at the place with her, and the property owner seems pretty cool (and flexible - he kind of likes the idea of having a horse there. He seems to want someone to move in and make the barns useful again). 

They still need to work out when they're picking the horse up. I just hope this horse turns out to be everything they're hoping for and they know what they're getting in to.


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