Tandee came into my life when she was 5 yrs old....and she left when she was 34 yrs old. :-(
When I got Tandee, it was like a dream come true! She was my first Arabian horse and my goal at that time was to have her bred so I could have a couple Arabian foals in addition to riding all over the place. It was the foals that kept me from buying the soft eyed gelding that was her stable mate. (That is another story!) She did have two foals...and she lost them both. One had a broken hip when he was born and the other one had septicemia. All was not lost...while at the vet clinic we met the manager of the University's QH barn and he had lost a mare. Tandee got to raise a QH baby! The big joke in the barn was that the Arabian milk would make the QH baby start raising her tail and arching her neck when she trotted...ha ha! As much as they did not like those 'crazy Arabs' they sure loved Tandee. Come on...how could you not love a mare that took in another baby as her own? I can still hear the nickering and I can still see her nurture that little foal like she was her own.
After that I decided it was not worth the heartbreak...no more foals. So we rode, and rode, and rode...
She was sassy and full of herself, and that is one of the many things I loved about her! She was not very tall but she was stout. She had hooves like rocks and was tough as an old boot. And she was gorgeous....just plain gorgeous!
This was the first day that she was mine and I was hers! I was so happy! She had 30 days on her...and I had no idea what the heck that meant. Ha ha! Yep, I had been around horses most of my life but I was not raised around horse people, so that meant nothing to me. I didn't care....sure, 30 days is great! I loved her!
Here are a few random shots I found.
Tandee, Druch (the soft eyed gelding I passed up...) and Surmarohara (Sir).
I loved watching Tandee and Tripp together. He was very sweet with her, and she thought he was quite handsome. :-)
Tandee, Wyoming and Batman.
Tandee got to meet Red last year (or was it the year before?). He thought he was 'all that' and she did too!
When I would let them in the yard to graze, she would run, buck and fart with the best of them. These are all within the past 3-4 years.
Brian found this picture in his 'photo stash.' This was at Batman's 2nd birthday party in 2011. :-)
I cut this photo down the center between her ears, then made a book mark out of the right side.
Batman loved Grandma Tandee.
This was taken this Spring...
I spent a lot of time wondering when that 'time' would come. Everyone says that "you will know." Heck, even I have said it. It is true! After being on the emotional roller coaster for I don't know how long, one day we just knew. She was very thin but content, so we let her do her thing. Her 'thing' consisted of keeping us on our toes. When she didn't like a certain feed it was time to find what she did like. Dang she was picky! She would trot to the yard, and back to the barn lot at meal time. She would shake that cute little head of hers and nicker non stop as if to ask me what the hold up was. It was when she started losing her sight that I saw some differences in her. She was unsure of herself, she was overly careful, she would spook about things that never bothered her before. She was still her sassy self, but with all of those other things starting to show their ugly head more often. One day the dogs were running around in the yard and she panicked. She looked so scared and just froze....I cried and cried....I knew it was time and it broke my heart. Not only did I never want her to feel fear, I didn't want her to react to it and get hurt. We picked a day and said our good-byes.
That was about three weeks ago...give or take. I expected a few days to go by and the relief of knowing she is okay in a different place to take over. It has not happened yet. There is such a huge void. Every morning I would go out to feed and she was there to greet me, then curse at me for not moving quick enough to suit her. I miss her sooooo much! But at the same time I am sooooo happy that she and I got to be together for so long! We had a lot of great times and she was there through my thick and thin. I am blessed to have had her in my life for so long. :-)
Two funny stories.
1. One night I was sleeping on the hammock in the back yard. I woke up to heavy breathing on my face and when I slowly opened my eyes there were two big light colored shapes over my face. I freaked out and when I jumped, the 'ghosts' jumped too! I rolled out of the hammock onto my hands and knees and looked in the direction of the noise...It was Tandee and Druch. They were snorting over me because they knew I didn't belong there. That day I had someone at the house with a bobcat to move some dirt around and I forgot to shut the gate. They came into the yard.....I still laugh out loud over that one!
2. I was riding Tandee at the Conservation area and took a lunch with me. I stopped by a small creek to eat. It was so pretty out there. It was time to go so I was half way mounted when she jumped that darn creek! I fell off and landed in the creek....and I kept a hold of my reins! I am glad for that because she was not the type to come back to get me! Ha ha! It would have been a long walk back in boots that were a bit too big for me.
Good times!!!
Until later....Karen and Tripp who is helping me the best he can. Thank goodness for horse smooches!
