A Zoo Adventure: My special buddy.

I recently lost a very special buddy of mine. His name is Rocky and he was by far one of the best horses ever.

Rocky was obviously abused by a previous owner and when my mom first got him he was reluctant to get to know us. We hung out a lot when I first moved to Texas for graduate school and slowly Rocky opened up. Animals are incredible. They can overcome anything thrown at them. I am so happy that he was able to experience a fantastic last couple of years. My mom provides her horses with five star luxury treatment and Rocky enjoyed every bit of it.

I am not a great rider, just a casual rider, but with Rocky it was easy, he did all the work. In time we both trusted each other and basically I just let him do his thing. He took care of me and I was just along for the ride. I trusted him so much that I often just let go of the reins, even when galloping through fields. So much fun!

Usually Rocky is a relaxed horse, but get him in a horse arena and wooooaaahh! The first time I entered into the arena with Rocky I was complety thrown off guard. He had the ability to bulk up and become a super horse and really I just got in his way. He had obviously barrel raced in the past and I had obviously not. I just held on and he did all the steering. As soon as we exited the arena, back to the relaxed, chill horse I knew.

His passing has reminded me to live your life. Take the time out of our everyday busy lives to enjoy what we have. And you know what - do what you want to do! And cherish those who support what you do. I wish I had more time with Rocky but he has left a huge footprint on my heart.

Here are some fabulous pictures to describe some of our adventures.

This is how we were both happiest. Bare back riding doing whatever we wanted.

So handsome. Enjoying Palo Senya.

Someone is falling asleep. Always willing to let me do whatever.

I jumped all over him and he did not care.

Ok so I let him eat a lot of grass when I rode. Woopsie!

Getting a bath after a ride in Palo Duro Canyon.

And he took care of everyone that got on him.

The next group of pictures came after my mom and I watched a Tommy Turvey horse demonstration which included Roman riding. We (mainly I) were determined to give it a try but soon after giving it a go, we realized we needed to train the horses first to move as a unit. The following pictures are just a few pictures of our escapades. Take a look at Rocky in all of the pictures. Amazing. He is physically trying to stay underneath me and Apache (the paint horse) is running away the entire time. Hilarious!