Stoney

If you are not a sappy horse girl... proceed to the next blog. Your eyes will get stuck from rolling in the back of your head as you read my post. If you are a horse crazy girl who secretly wanted to be lost on the island with the Black Stallion, then read on.

This is Stoney. He was my first "real" horse love. I need to distinguish "real life horse love" from "horse on TV love." God only knows I was in love with the Black Stallion the moment he came rearing upon the movie screen in 1979, he was the horse who first set my heart dreaming. Anyway back to "real love". Ahhhhh we never forget our first loves, do we? I won't forget this horse either. My husband and I met Stoney at a local public park here in Lexington, Kentucky several years ago. Stoney was always the first horse in his pasture to come to the fence and greet you with a warm welcome. He was very friendly as he was always looking for a handout. He was a beautiful horse. I remember thinking his colors reminded me of a Coca-Cola can because of the frosted effervescent pattern of white hair that seemingly swirled upon his richly colored red coat. My husband and I would frequent this park often and came to know Stoney quite well. After a while Stoney would see me coming in the distance or hear my voice and he would come galloping over to the fence and wait for me to come and visit with him. He would sit quietly as I would pet his face or pick the burs out of his forelock. He loved the attention I lavished on him. I believe that Stoney loved me and I loved him. He was the first horse that ever felt like he was "mine," sadly he was owned by someone else who kept him at the park. My relationship with Stoney continued over the next year. I would visit him almost every weekend and the same thing would happen, he would hear my voice and come galloping at full speed to greet me. Just hearing the sound of his pounding hooves flying over the grass filled my heart with joy. I had a countless number of eye rollers and doubters who would listen to my stories of the red pony, some of those doubters would say, "of course he comes to you, you feed him." True... but last time I checked every horse owner feeds their horses. Do all of your horses come running to greet you? Didn't think so... So as you see my relationship with Stoney was special. I would love to bring new people with me to meet Stoney and witness for themselves the horse who would run to me. A few of my "non nostalgic" horse friends, who observed our relationship, said they never saw anything like it. Our relationship was truly unique. One day, on chilly afternoon, I went to the pasture to visit Stoney. I called his name but this time he did not come running. The sound of pounding hooves could not be heard, everything was silent. I looked around the pasture franticly for him but the little red horse was gone. Turns out his owner sold him to a college student out at Midway. My heart was broken. I cried for months... maybe even years.. oh wait maybe even right now... As long as I live I will never forget that red horse. Stoney will be in my heart forever...

I have attached several photos of Stoney. My favorite photo is the one where he has his head on my shoulder and was taking a nap.