Who is That Horse?

Eleanor in the first picture with J R and a picture of the two sisters riding J R & Rockin Andi (Eleanor 0n the left & me on the right).

Friday we took a trip to Stanton. Eleanor had been assured that she would get to ride. Jamie had promised her. We were a little later getting there so we went to lunch with Vera, Larry and S T. Lucy, Eleanor and I went back to the stable to ride. H T and Wilda were in the barn when we got there. H T did not look like he was feeling well with his broken ribs. But he sat there and talked to us.

Jamie had saddled Andi and rode her and then helped me on her. I was riding in the barn and Wilda was giving me encouragement and instructions. I am feeling so good and confident on Andi. She is a wonderful mare and I love her a lot. She is getting better and better. Jamie is doing a great job with her.

Eleanor was watching me ride and I know getting antsy to ride herself. She ask Jamie if she would get to ride Morning Glory. Jamie said something about not riding her today because she hadn't been ridden in several days. Soon he brought a red gelding out all saddled up and climbed into the saddle. I ask Jamie who that horse was and he said, "J R." Well I didn't know who J R was. He wasn't on the web site. Soon Jamie dismounted and helped Eleanor get on J R.

She rode him around the barn and she was looking pretty confident but he kept stopping. He would get to the door and he would stop. Soon Jamie appeared with a Dressage whip and told her to use it when he tried to stop. She did that very successfully. She rode around the barn and was really looking happier all the time. That is when H T asked her if she liked that horse. She affirmed that she did. He told her that was her horse. I looked at him in stunned silence.

That is something you don't see very often.

I thought I had heard him wrong. He told her again that it was her horse. He had bought J R for her. Then he told us where he bought the horse and how when he saw that horse and found out something about him that he knew he would be a horse that Eleanor could ride and that J R could be trusted.

Before I knew it she was riding him around the barn in a show gait. She had that little dressage whip in hand and when J R looked like he wanted to stop she gave him a little swat and on he went. Now she is talking about riding a classic gait. Oh no, where will it end? Will she next be wanting to ride Park? And could I watch if she did?

When I decided I wanted a horse, I thought I would be buying a quarter horse. Everyone around my part of the country has quarter horses. But one day I was reading Horse Illustrated and the featured horse of the month was a Rocky Mountain Horse. The article even mentioned Van Bert Farms. As I read about the qualities that made Mountain Horses so desirable, I knew I had found the horse I wanted. And there was a stunninly beautiful picture of a Mountain Horse in the center fold.

I started looking on line and found the Van Bert Farms web site. The horses on their web site were so beautiful and so appealing. I read about the family operation and saw a picture of Vera and her three sons riding together. They were having such a great time riding those beautiful horses. I knew that would be where I would go to look for a horse.

At the time I did not realize that it would start a long and happy relationship with this special family to the point of feeling like I am part of their family. They have always been so warm and wonderful to me. In 2007 I took Eleanor to the farm with me. By that time I had bought Blue Ridge Mountain Girl. I was about to buy Butterfly Kisses. Eleanor fell in love with the horses immediately. She started going to the shows with me and she has been with me almost every show since then.

Over the last two and a half years, they have gotten to know my family and to love and respect Eleanor for the person she is. They allowed her to start riding at the farm last year despite a lot of misgivings on my part and maybe theirs too. I was worried about her at 76 starting to ride a horse again. Even a sweet Rocky Mountain Horse can sometimes do something unpredictable.

But they have been very helpful to both of us. I have bought several horses from them. I have some really beautiful horses. All of them are gentle and good natured. I am often told that I know how to pick horses. I don't think that is it at all. I just know the horses I buy at Van Bert's are quality, well cared for horses. I have never bought a horse from them that I have been disappointed in.

When H T told us that he had bought the horse for Eleanor, I was stunned beyond words. He is such a kind and good man. And Wilda was happy as can be that Eleanor had a horse of her own that she could ride and be safe on. Wilda was out in the middle of the barn giving us words of encouragement and praise and correcting us when we needed it.

I started feeling guilty that Lucy had not ridden so I got off of Rockin Andi and let Lucy ride her favorite horse. Melissa was somewhat miffed that she had to go to school and couldn't go to Stanton to have Jamie teach her more about riding. Eleanor continued to ride until Jamie asked her if she thought she should dismount before she made herself sore from riding so much. She was like a little girl asking for just one more turn around the barn.

I have never seen Eleanor any happier than she is now. She talked all the way home about her horse J R and did I see her doing a show gait on him. Before I could write this blog, I had to let her have a chance to call our friend Michael Brummer so she could tell him personally about her horse J R. She is so deserving of this happiness. She has sacrificed so much in her life to take care of her children. She took care of the oldest one, Dennis for years on a ventilator. It was full time and stressful. She never complained about doing it and he never complained about being in bed all those years.

Now to see her so happy is a joy to me beyond words I have to describe it. I cried when H T said J R was Eleanor's horse and he had bought him for her. She told me it was all she could do not to cry herself.

H T will have a reward in Heaven for all the ways he has served his Jesus that he loves so much. In buying the horse for Eleanor, H T was serving his master. I believe the inspiration for buying the horse for her came from God. God uses us, his humble servants to bless those around us. I know that God led me to the Van Bert Farm. I have been blessed over and over again by the horses, the friends I have made and the Derickson family. I thought it was my idea to buy a horse and my idea to go to the Van Bert Farm. I have decided over these past two years that it was not my idea at all but God leading me. The reward has been great by following where he led. And the reward is and will be great for these two wonderful people, H T and Wilda, for allowing God to use them for his kingdom and to bless those who come in contact with them.

Thank you H T and Wilda and all the Derickson family. You have blessed me and my family in so many ways. Thank you for your kindness and love. And I pray God will continue to bless you in every way that seems good to him.

May God bless and keep you in his loving care.

Regards

Mary

For I know all things work together for those who love the Lord and who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them printing thier proud hooves in the receiving earth, for 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings.

William Shakespeare