Adventures with Madi at Blue Mountain Farms: My Goal...

For the past three years, I have had one special goal. This is one goal that a lot of people thought wasn't going to happen for a long, long time! But, before I begin talking about this goal, I need to start from the beginning. When I was four years old, I am now thirteen, we started volunteering at a local horse farm run by Ben and Shirley Nolt. This farm is called CATRA, Capital Area Therapeutic Riding Association. They work hard with therapeutic events for people with disabilities. When we began volunteering at CATRA, they had a pregnant, Miniature horse that needed to be worked with! Without any hesitation, we took that offer. Of course I didn't understand much of what I was just told, but I did hear the words horse and needed to be worked with, so I was very excited! Anyway, this mini's name was Merri-legs and we walked her outside to her pasture, with other goats and minis. Merri-legs wasn't due to have her foal yet so we took her outside for the day. We had been walking her for a few weeks now and we were very excited because her due-date was coming soon!

One early spring day, after volunteering at CATRA, we went home to eat lunch. When we arrived home, we received a phone call from CATRA saying, "The foal was born and he needs to be warmed!" We raced down to CATRA, again, to find a CATRA volunteer holding the foal in several towels because, this foal was found in the pond! Keep in mind this was March 28th so it wasn't warm out! After the foal was warm, we worked on standing him up. He still wasn't strong enough to hold his weight. He needed a name, somebody suggested the name Journey, and we loved that name so we called him that from that day on. A few weeks later, Journey was happy and healthy! Our family really loved Journey so we asked if he would ever be sold and they said that it would depend on who is buying him. So what did we do? Well, we bought him! He was as tall as me at the time, so I couldn't do much with him. Ashley, my sister, worked with Journey until Tyler, my brother didn't want Bumble any more. Bumble is another mini we own because we wanted a horse but we could afford the space for a mini. So after begging mom for one, Tyler finally was able to get Bumble. But that is a whole nother story. So Ashley started working with Bumble, then BJ came along. BJ was a foal out of Bumble and Journey! I worked with BJ and I loved him, then Ashley didn't like him because he was fighting with the sheep so BJ left.

Now, since Tyler started with cows and Ashley had Bumble, I started working with Journey. Honestly, at first I wasn't a fan of Journey but then I realized how much Journey could do! About a year after working with Journey, I made a goal. My goal was to drive Journey at my 4-H fair. I worked with Journey for three years after making that goal and in that time Journey and I built a lot of trust! I worked on line driving him and desensitizing him so he isn't scared of a cart being behind him. I was finally able to put a cart behind him and drive him this year! The best part is, I drove him at my 4-H fair! I even qualified for Districts! Districts is a horse show that if you do well at your county fair you can show again at Districts and if you do well there you can show at States! I received a third place ribbon at Districts and the top two go on to states, so close! So my goal was to drive Journey at 4-H fair and I did it! I am very proud of him and with how far we came in the time that I have been working with him!