Here’s some old photos of the horses my mother has had over the past few years. The white one is Cloud Nine, who she had to ret rid of recently. The black one is Bob Marley, the dark brown one is Diva, the light brown one is Goldilocks, and the white one with dark spots is Starlet. They no longer have any of these horses, which breaks my heart, as I miss them tons, but I am happy to hear they’re living somewhere nice these days.

They were all rescue horses when my Mom got them, in fact Bob’s name comes from when they found him. The poor guy was only used to stud, never trained properly, and never really let out of his stable. When the equine league found him he was covered in feces so deep it had got to his hair and started to dread it up – hence the name Bob Marley. He was a sweet guy (he’s in some of our wedding photos), but I doubt if he’ll ever be rideable. I still miss him.

Miss Diva, she was fully blind in one eye and we think could only see some shadows out of her other eye. Goldie was younger than her, but she kind of took care of her. She’d lead her through the field and they’d whine at each other when they were separated; it kind of seemed like Goldie was always trying to tell Diva that she was close to her. It was mandatory that they stay together because of this, and luckily the equine league felt the same. They were a great pair.

Cloud was smitten with Starlet, who was my favorite. She was the youngest of the bunch, and in the best shape when they were rescued. Jared and I talked about trying to buy her, but we didn’t have quite the amount we needed (okay, that’s an understatement!). Cloud cried for days when he was separated from her, it was heartbreaking. I’m glad he took his recent separation from Ellie better. The day they sold Cloud, the new owner sent a picture of him in a field with other horses, saying, “He’s made a friend already.” I hope he’s happy, I really do. He could be a complete sweetheart when he wanted.

This was just a trip down memory-lane. The horses my Mom and Step-Dad have now are José and Harley, and I’ll get picture of them next time I’m out at their house. It’s funny, I never even liked horses a little bit until I met these guys, and they completely and totally stole my heart. I now get why so many people love these animals!

For color versions of these same photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 – (which, in retrospect, would probably help you identify which horses I’m talking about since I reference their coloring. Oops!)