Lotta Go Go

Many of you know I have horses, too many horses and I love them all.

As long as I can remember I’ve wanted to show at a high level and do well.  In 2012 I almost made that dream come true.  I made it to the world show with my mare Boody.  At the show Boody sustained a career ending injury.  It was so disappointing.  After returning home and licking my wounds from that for a couple years, I decided I would breed Boody to try for my next high level show horse.  I had Boody’s mom and her grandmom so my history with this line is long.  I wanted so badly to keep this line going.  So, we picked a great stallion to breed to.  Boody took on the first try with cooled semen and I was now becoming excited for the upcoming foal.  I had come up with the best name ever, Gettin Boody in Gay Bar (a combo of Boody and the sires names).  At 6 months into her gestation Boody aborted the foal, a colt.  Cue extreme disappointment again.  We tried two more years to get Boody back in foal but it wasn’t meant to be and I had to quit throwing money into something that wasn’t going to work.  Boody was telling me she just wasn’t supposed to be a mom.  The owner of the stallion was phenomenal to work with and went above and beyond to help us get Boody in foal.  A side note, the most important part of this is that Boody is trail sound and I can still ride and enjoy her and she has a home until she dies.

So, I started to think about buying a prospect for my next show horse hopeful.  I looked at horses for months.  Foals, weanlings, two year olds, etc.  wanting something we could finish out ourselves just because I wanted to have a hand in training of obtaining my goal of going to the world show once again.  I picked a mare in Texas who has the same sire that I was trying to breed Boody to.  This mare (Lotta) was a 2 year old in a futurity  program that just wasn’t meant for her.  I bought her knowing she was a little scared and would need some time to relax.  I planned on trail riding her for a year or so and leaving the stress of arena work and hard regimented training behind for a bit.  She took to trail riding immediately and became my go to trail horse who packed me over some pretty rough terrain happily and willingly.  I loved her small but solid size (Boody isn’t considered small).  A year or so later I decided it was time to start training again.  She would go along great for a few weeks and then the baggage of the wrong start for her brain would come roaring back and she would get so scared and hard to deal with.  A good friend of mine started calling her Lotta Go Go  as she would get so jacked up when scared.  I had her at the vet regularly to make sure any issues stemming from discomfort were addressed.  She would make great strides and then one day the fear would return ten fold.  However, on the trail she always remained solid.  She would have some scared moments on the trail but they passed quickly if I gave her a few minutes to settle and realize the world wasn’t crashing down on her.  But, my desire was to compete and after 4 years I had to come to hard realization that Lotta wasn’t going to be that horse for me.  I hate hate hate giving up on a horse and if I wanted a trail horse only, I wouldn’t entertain a thought of getting rid of her.  She’s a cute as can be, just as sweet and we’ve grown attached to each other.  Since my pocket book is shallow I had some hard choices to make if I wanted to keep chasing the dream of competing.  I have Boody and her older sister who I will keep til they die so I already have two horses I can trail ride and feed, I don’t need a third.  I’d think about selling Lotta but my fears of what kind of home she would go to would stop me.  Can the people who got her handle a light and sensitive horse and handle her properly?  If not, what would happen to Lotta?  The thought of  her in the wrong hands just plain upsets me.

After a particularly rough attempt at a local show several months ago I was beyond frustrated.  I had always kept in touch with the breeder and she knew of the issues Lotta was having.  Totally unexpected the breeder offered to trade me for a proven show mare she had.  Actually, this was the mare I originally wanted who was a yearling when I was in Texas looking at Lotta.  At the time this mare was not for sale.  I was floored by this more than generous offer.  This is a breeder who wants her clients happy with the horses they purchase (in fact, we’ve now purchased two more from her for my husband).  At first I was a bit defensive and thought of all of the good things about Lotta and it would be hard to see her go away.  I asked about what would happen to Lotta and was assured she would become the breeders trail horse and would be well taken care of and loved.  That was the most important thing in making my decision.

So, next week we leave to Texas to take Lotta back and pick up my new mare and my husbands new weanling.  I am excited to meet and get to know my new mare, Oakie.  However, I will shed a few tears when I tell Lotta Go Go goodbye.

So I say goodbye to Lotta who taught me more horsemanship lessons than I ever wanted to learn.  You have a good life ahead going down the trail as you love to do.