Day 16, May 16th, 2013

First of all, I have to acknowledge someone very special, not only to me but my entire family.

Happy Birthday Sonny, you old handsome bugger you <3

Sonny is one of those horses that I will always hold dear to my heart. He taught me how to ride and kept me safe when I would be saying, Why Dad? And my dad would be going, Whoa Sonny!! As I'm slipping off of the saddle, haha.. Oh boy. Reflecting on old times just brings a smile to my face. I was such a difficult student as I needed to know WHY all the time! Sorry Dad.

He took me through some embarrassing times with High School Rodeo, such as riding his neck out of the arena because he stopped flat instead of turning like he always did. He used to make my eyes water so much that I had tears pouring down my face. Unfortunately, I never had the guts for Sonny's speed during those times so I used to annoy him.. if only Sonny was able to experience the more confident me later in my career when I started doing App nationals..

Sonny and I used to spend a lot of time together. When I was little, Sonny was basically a one rider type horse. My Dad, of course. He used to get Sonny to do the most amazing things. Dad never got to see how fascinating Sonny really was and therefore doesn't understand the same feelings we all had, everyone who watched them.

A few years ago, Sonny and I were on the Wish ride, we were having a ball playing and running around with the group when all of a sudden he was limping and someone was like, ASH!! Sonny is BLEEDING!

I hopped off his back and to my horror, Sonny was cut badly. I don't mean just a scratch or those who exaggerate, I mean BAD. I cried, a lot. I thought this was the end of him and it took me years to forgive myself. What happened, was we went down a hill and there was a broken beer bottle hidden and it cut him. He cut nerves and a tendon and it was not pretty at all. We had him vet checked and what we were told was, he wasn't going to be a riding horse but he could be a great babysitter to our little ones if we wanted.

Well to this day, Sonny is a babysitter to our little ones and he is still awesome as ever and still handsome, even being grey with age.

He's always going to be one of those horses that stay with you, he is a legend.. a hero.

Oh and here's a shot of Mister, our foal from last year...