Today has been a blizzard, a few friends birthdays & the 14th anniversary of owning my long time partner & retired show pony, Pirate. I can’t believe how fast the years went by, I got Pirate when I was nine years old. To this day I never found a horse that has been more loyal than him. Pirate is now blind & 24, his blindness occurred in 2002 & I proceeded to show him even with this disability until we finally decided to retire him. The bond & trust he has for me is incredible, all you have to do is jingle a bit in front of his mouth & he starts to open it, he will do just about anything I ask out of trust.
He didn’t get to have any glamour shots today, but was just happy to be brought in the barn
Over the years Pirate did just about every discipline & performed them well. We did jumping, dressage, english flat work, western pleasure, reining, driving, pole bending & of course barrel racing. Here are some flash back photos from over the years.
I think I was twelve here, the expression or lack of says I’m hot, tired & cranky, mom please stop taking pictures of me. Most of Pirate’s trophy’s & ribbons are packed away in boxes but I still like to go through our old photo albums.
Driving class at the fair, Pirate wasn’t the biggest fan of pulling a cart but he put up with it & looked good doing it.
The 90s called, they want their tack back. Oh wait this was the 90s. I was avidly obsessed with hunter green & the Martha Josey nylon sets, hey they were cool at the time.
His favorite (& mine) was barrel racing, we just did the other disciplines to keep him fresh & prevent him from getting sour. Even now I still ride him occasionally because he honestly would prefer to keep being shown. It always amazes me how I can go months without riding him, hop on & he does everything perfectly. Of course he is still full of spunk & bucks because the only time he ever gets to run anymore is when I am on him.
A much younger looking Pirate if you compare it to the photo from today. Either way he is still adorable & will always be my favorite pony.
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