Happy Birthday Lucy!

Travis and I have definitely not reached the point of adding children to our family, but our animals are like our own version of kids.

Our sweet little filly, Lucy, turned one on March 1, 2009. I guess you could say she was an 'oops' for us. Travis bought a new roping horse for himself in July of 2007. He bought a beautiful red roan that we named Sloan and have grown to love. At that same time we were also the owners of a donkey named, Steve. Steve was a man's man and had not been fixed . We began to wonder if Steve was going to have the hots for Sloan and produce a mule, so we decided to put him in our pen so that he and Sloan could not have any alone time together.

Travis' horse, Sloan

Fast forward a few months and we notice that Sloan's stomach is getting rather large. Especially with it being during the winter months we grew concerned and took Sloan to the vet. He confirmed our worst fear: Sloan was knocked up. We were dreading the thought that Travis' very skilled and talented roping horse was going to produce a mule and be out of commission for a while.

Travis and I went out of town for a wedding the first weekend of March (2008) and when we were pulling in the driveway we noticed something laying in the front pasture. We didn't pay much attention to it, just assuming one of the dogs got out or some debris had blown in our yard. As we drove closer, we noticed that it was no dog and definitely NOT trash...it was a beautiful baby horse. We immediately stopped the car and looked her over and over and realized she was definitely no mule, but infact 100% horse! We were thrilled, but at the very same time a bit puzzled.

Sloan and Lucy (1 day old)

Lucy(1 day old)

You see when Travis purchased the horse from one of his fellow roping buddies, he mentioned that he had been trying to breed Sloan for the past 3 years, but it had never 'stuck'. He even had her vet checked before selling her to us and the vet said she was not in foal. This pregnancy test was clearly wrong and what a great surprise for us (2 for 1 horses).

So here we are one year later with a beautiful girl! She has quite the personality and can be a bit moody, but she has already accomplished so much at her young age. We have her halter and lead rope trained, she tolerates a saddle on her, she will walk up to you if you call her name, she will let you brush her hair and pet her head.

In 6 months we will really be able to begin more serious training and be abletoride her. People have driven by and pulled in to our place asking if she is 'for sale' but they are turned away. We LOVE our little Lucy and plan on keeping her for quite a while. We can only hope that she turns into the roping horse that her mom is!

Lucy (1year old). Isn't she cute?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LUCY!!!