Life with Sonny aka Sonny Memoir

Here is the Memoir aka Life with Sonny~

              My name is Lauren.  I am a horse-crazy, 12-year-old Christian girl.  I have shoulder length brown almost black hair, lots of freckles, green, blue, and brown eyes, and am 5 and a half feet tall.  I became interested in horses at around 2 or 3 years old.  I began taking lessons at age 4.  I was obsessed with horses and showed it by buying hand-painted high-end toy horses called Breyers all the time and had tons of horse posters on my walls.  I rode 1-2 times a week and worked at the barn cleaning the horse urine and poop out of stalls whenever I could when I hit about 7 years old.  I had been asking my parents for a horse since before I can remember.  My parents said I could get a horse when I was ten because they thought I would grow out of it!  But I didn't and when my tenth birthday was "looming" near I started pestering my parents more than ever.  Getting a horse meant a lot to me, and my wish was finally fulfilled on a cold January afternoon.

As my parents, my sisters, and I were driving home from church on a Sunday afternoon I noticed something strange.  We were turning into the neighborhood that the barn is located.  I asked my parents why we were here and they replied, "We just need to drop a check off to Jamie".  Well when we turned into the barn I noticed that there was a bay horse who hadn’t been there before.  So I asked my trainer, Jamie, if she got a new horse and she smiled and said "No Lauren that is your new horse Sonny".  I ran over to where he was standing.

As I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed in the scent of horses and felt his baby fuzz against my cheek I had this bubbly feeling steal over me.  When I finally let go of him my face was beaming as I thanked my parents over and over again for giving him to me.  I then looked back at him and saw that he was beautiful rich brown in color with black mane, tail, muzzle, lower legs, and around the outside of his ears, a snip of white on his nose, a white sock on his right back leg, and a white teardrop on his forehead. I then wrapped my arms around his neck again and told him "I love you Sonny".  Then he snorted at me as if he was saying, "I love you too, Lauren".  Finally a horse of my own.

 For a week after I got Sonny I would go to the barn everyday at noon.  After that I would only go around 2-3 times a week.  Everyday that I went out I would take Sonny and walk him around to eat grass so that he would bond with me and then I would work on his ground manners.   He was slowly getting better about not running over me and pulling me to where he wanted me to go.   Then we worked on picking up his hoofs to clean out the debris, which could cause bruises if left.  Every time we would try to clean out his hooves he would freak out or lie down.  When the time came for him to get his hooves trimmed so they would not grow too long and interfere with his walking he was no better.  When the farrier came to give him a trim he was in the cross ties and started twisting but the farrier never once let go of his hoof.  When Sonny finally stopped twisting and panicking he was almost strangling himself so the farrier went and finished trimming his hoofs and we never had another problem picking up his hoofs again.

When Sonny had to be castrated the second time, because the vet did not do a good job the first time, he had to be put totally under.  He was in a lot of pain and would lie down until Mrs. Jamie or I noticed and made him get up so his organs would not get twisted and compressed.  Everyday we would have to give him penicillin shots so he could fight off any infections.  We also had to separate him from the other horses so he would not rip open the stitches or strain himself in any way.  Then one day he went loco.

          When Mrs. Jamie was giving Sonny his Penicillin shot Sonny went crazy and almost ran Mrs. Jamie over!  He flipped backwards in the cross ties then he took off with the cross ties wrapped around his legs.  It was a miracle he did not break a leg.  Then he ran straight through the electric fence, and the fence was on!  When Mrs. Jamie called me and mom she said the vet was on her way.  Mom said that we might have to put him down if he was really loco.  I burst into tears.  Mom said I was not allowed to go to the barn with her because she said I might just make him more upset.  When mom got there the vet said that he was not loco but he had just had a severe allergic reaction to the penicillin.  So mom called me and I burst into tears even harder than before because of the relief.  Isn't it funny how after you hear they are going to be okay that that is when you cry the hardest?

            When Sonny hit 2 years old Mrs. Jamie said he was old enough to ride.  So we got him used to the saddle and bridle, then I put my weight across his back and waited for a few moments.  Then I put my leg over his back and slowly straightened my back so I was sitting normal.  I kicked him slightly so that maybe he would move forward but he was not sure where I went.  He began looking behind him wondering where I had gone. So I gently kicked his sides again, but when I kicked him he swung his head around and bit my leg!  He was like, "Why did you do that mom?"  So I reached down and rubbed the teardrop on his forehead and he moved off a few steps.  By the forth or fifth lesson he was already cantering on his own.  And now he is 3-and-a-half years old and one of the most solid mounts I have ever ridden.

       Sonny and me are now working on jumping, flying lead changes, where the horse changes it's lead in the air, riding bridless, and bareback. Our next big project will be to learn tricks like lying down like a dog, bowing, curtsy bows, where the horse puts his front hooves on a low stool and tucks his head under till it almost touches the ground. I would also like to work on sliding quarter horse stops, where the horse puts his front legs forward and tucks his rear legs under to stop.  We also love to mosey around where I board and gallop around the pond.  I love my horse.

Hope you like it:)!