Ridin', Reinin' and Writin'

    Sapphire. I named her before she was born.

   It was the spring of 2008 and my favourite mare, Silk, was expecting her first foal. What would I call this special one? In the early hours of a day in May, I awoke from a sound sleep and that question was answered. "Silk is going to have a filly and I am naming her Sapphire!' Where did that come from? That name was not even on my list of names. But so it was. Sapphire was born in late day light as my friends were arriving for Horsewoman's Weekend at Wildwood Reining Horses. The delivery was normal and Silk bonded as she should. Sapphire had arrived and she was a perfect, delicate copy of her mother. I bought her a pink halter because she was so feminine.

Silk and Sapphire

   The little sorrel filly didn't take long to show me some fancy moves. Like her dam, she had "sting" but with a gentleness too. I loved her to bits but worried too that she was fragile. My neighbour, who did chores for me one weekend, worried too. "She looks like a little deer," she said. "I'm scared something will happen to her on my watch."

Down the fence we go!

Strutting her stuff

As a yearling

    Sapphire managed to injure herself a couple of times but other than that, grew up normally on my property in the Chilcotin. As a yearling, she babysat the next foal crop through their weaning time. She was not much bigger than they were. As a two-year-old, I started her under saddle but rode her only lightly that year because of her size. She never bucked but she could get pretty excited like Silk did. In 2011, her three year old year, she should have been competing in three-year-old reining futurities but she was behind in training and very immature mentally. I was in no rush. However, I retired from the reining pen that year so she was never shown.

First time saddled

      When Sapphire was four, I spent a weekend with friends at a lake. It was not only Sapphire's first trail ride. It was also the first time hauled and the first time high-lined. When it came time to ride, she was wired! I think I called her Silk a few times because she was so much like her when she got excited. I loved her even more. 

She and I

My pretty girl.

    I knew I would keep Sapphire forever. I planned to grow old with her. And, although almost no one else rode her but me, she did meet two trainers at clinics – Vern Sapergia at a clinic at my place and Cayley Wilson a few times because . . . she wanted to be a cowhorse! To that end, I spent some time with Cayley. The first time we put her on the flag he said, "Are you sure she has never done this before?" She was gritty, focused and fun. 

Vern Sapergia on Sapphire as a 3 year old

Cayley Wilson on Sapphire

Cayley working the flag on Sapphire

   Riding Sapphire was like floating on a pillow. I don't think I have ever ridden another horse that smooth. She kind of skimmed the ground with her front feet. At the same time, she had quick feet and was one of the most sure-footed horses I owned. I trusted her completely on slippery ground. 

Sapphire's first time on flag

Sapphire feelin' good.

   My horses ran by the river in the Chilcotin and when I wanted to ride one, I often had to walk down to catch the one I needed. It was Sapphire I could halter and ride back up the very steep hill bareback. I can still feel her warm back between my legs as she scrambled up the hill; I can imagine the clump of red sorrel mane in my hand that I held to keep me from sliding over her rump. I guess it's a good thing a bear didn't jump out of the bush, though.

  I have a scar on the back of my left calf that is in memory of Sapphire in that pasture. I had taken her to the corner of the property, a spot on the fenceline that ran into the river, to check the fence. It was bushy and I got off to lead her out. When we reached the little ditch at the edge of the bush, she jumped it and the blunt force of her hoof hit the back of my calf, breaking it open in a V shape. Not really her fault but it was deep and required stitches inside and out.

    And Sapphire was the horse I chose for my debut ride after a shoulder replacement. I knew she would take care of me.

Sapphire and I a month after my shoulder replacement

   Although a trained reining horse who could circle, change leads, spin and slide, I had no desire to show Sapphire. Mostly, I just had fun with her. She and I were a team. She and I understood each other. She and I could accomplish what we could not do alone. She and I….

Sapphire and I on the Diamond Dot Ranch

Sapphire and I in Utah

Sapphire and I in Utah

Sapphire and I at Paria Townsite, Utah

Sapphire and I in Bryce Canyon

   For the last few years, Cameo was her constant companion. They hauled together on the move from BC to Alberta and spent the night in the trailer in a snowstorm. It was those two I hauled to Saskatchewan in 2017 to ride the hills where I was born. It was those two I hauled to Utah in 2018 to ride the trails in the red rock of Bryce Canyon, Buckskin Gulch and others.

    Since I moved to Alberta, Sapphire has had several bouts of colic. With vigilance and a little luck, I always caught it in time but it was becoming chronic and the episodes scared me like only colic can. On the evening of March 31, it happened again and it appears the damage had already been done in the 3 hours since I had last seen her. It was a brutal night I will never forget. Embedded in my mind forever is Sapphire asking me to help . . . and the realization that I could not. I would have taken her to surgery if I had had the financial means but in the early hours of April 1^st, I had to let Sapphire go. I am lost, heartbroken and gutted. My sweet, sweet mare is gone. 

   Wait for me at the gate, Sapphire. You have joined those of mine who have gone before. I know your great-great grandma, Duchess, is looking out for you. Until then...