It was a sad day, one might say an unlucky day, being Saturday the 13th, when we sold a horse very close to our heart.
The 19-year-old gray gelding is five generations our breeding going back more than five decades as we mated our first mare to his great-great-grandsire in the early ’60s.
Selling The Wonderful Zane as a weanling in our annual production sale, he was shown by his new owner in our field day-futurity-judging competition accompanying the auction, and collected awards.
Raising three dozen horses annually, merchandizing multiples that, and riding equal or more of those totals per annum, we lost track of the horse.
Half-asleep in the top bleacher at an auction, our nodding head snapped alert when a big beautiful gray horse with top hand aboard came in. Announcer reading the pedigree alerted us the sparkling-white prancer with silky-long mane and ground-dragging tail was one of our own.
Instantly, we just “couldn’t live without him.” Bidding seemed to never stop, but “Buchman” had the last nod, and our horse.
Seldom has there been a horse bought or raised, that we weren’t certain “this one’s the barn burner,” as “Zane” made our adrenaline even flow faster.
Talking to the cowboy selling the horse, and others who’d seen him work, made us more excited to own another “Zane,” despite price as high as we’d ever paid.
Mounted on “Zane,” everybody made admiring comment wherever we went; “he sure is pretty,” and “he sure is fast.”
“Zane” was always energetic, then it became not dangerous or scary, but “hard work” to ride.
Our fault, we literally ran him every day in the name of conditioning, and “Zane” got so “go” is all he’d do.
Always in a tizzy; gathering cattle, riding in parades, trail riding, and where we expected it: shows. But, in orneriness, he’d set up between barrels and poles.
Despite efforts to change the way we’d made him, it was finally determined “Zane” would never be enjoyable to ride again. So sadly, we sold him, and we’re pouting.
Reminds us of First Kings 13:30: “He mourned, “A sad day.” Yet, Job 2:10: “We take the bad with the good.” So, Acts 19:21: “It was time to move on.” And, hopefully Daniel 1:20: “He found one ten timesbetter than all the others.”
+++ALLELUIA+++
X–7–2-14-16