Sometimes, in life, an amazing experience will happen to you, and you just need to share it with the world. Before the December sale, we were loading up the trailer with halters and lead ropes, and filling up hay nets and hanging them in the trailer in preparation for bringing home the lucky few who we could manage to bring home with us. As Nathaniel pulled the trailer out, I remember looking at him pulling out and praying a quick prayer of “Lord, please help us find the right horses this trip. Ones that we can help and find the perfect homes for. Help us make the right choices…” Some people don’t believe in the power of prayer, or don’t believe God would care about something so small and “unimportant” as making a choice of which horse to try and save. But God pays attention to the little things.
The next day Nathaniel and Destini loaded up and headed out before me, and I followed soon behind with some of our kiddos in tow. I did not get a lot of time to spend in the loose pens with the horses, but Destini and Nathaniel had noted some that they thought were friendly and were workable. The sale was packed full of horses…When it comes to making the choice as to who gets to come home with us, and who stays it can be HARD.
My very first glimpse of Lucky Lola, was when I first got to the sale and walked back to the loose pens. There were all kinds of grumpy mares kicking at each other in the pen. It was over full and chaotic without much room to move. I took a picture of the rubbed off mane of a beautiful horse standing right by me, and unbeknownst to me, the beautiful horse that would forever leave a mark on my heart was standing right next to her.
My first picture of Lucky Lola
By the time I had gotten back there, the auction worker were already yelling for everyone to clear out because they were moving the loose horses up front. The auction was getting ready to start. Destini pointed out the beautiful paint horse. She said, “THAT one is the one we need to get Mom…Write down her number.” I asked if she was broke..And she said, “Oh yeah! I saw people on her, and she handles real gentle on the lead rope.” I could not see her number so she snapped a picture to compare her to when she came through the ring.
Bidding time was up…We didn’t have numbers written down, but had a general idea of which horses were semi broke or at least friendly. We bought three ponies. Two very broke, sweet ponies who would go on to be a child’s dream come true at Christmas time, and one not so broke, sweet but definitely abused pony. We bought a sweet buckskin mare, with bad ankles, and when the beautiful paint mare came through the ring, we paid more than our usual budget for her because Destini insisted this was the horse we needed. I was mentally calculating how on earth we would get them all in the trailer, and just how much money we had SPENT compared to how much we had raised…You know, every month we spend quite a bit more than the funds we raised. This month we had spent over $2600 before and during the sale, keeping horses out of the auction, and rescuing them from there. Having raised $1100..That was still a pretty big chunk of change sitting in the balance of hoping we would have some good horses to work with.
Following the sale, Nathaniel and Destini went and gathered the horses from the back that we had bought, while I waited impatiently at the trailer. Destini ran out of the barn with our beautiful paint horse trotting behind her, and I couldn’t help but smile at the thought of the joy of freedom this horse must be feeling. The relief! Destini was beyond excited about bringing her home. We tied her at the trailer, and while they were getting the rest of the horses and ponies, I was rubbing her down. I petted her head, and her neck, and her body, and when I rubbed on her belly she tried to kick me. And she was being pretty pushy with her head.
We got Lucky Lola home, and put in her stall for the evening. The next day, we brought her outside to brush her down and remove her auction tags, and when my father in law walked up, she randomly reared up. We calmed her, but this was the beginning of a notable habit. When she was spooked, usually by nothing major, or a sudden appearance of something, or someone…She would rear. Destini rode her. She tried to rear the first time mounted, and then settled, and she did ride pretty decently for Destini around the property but seemed very uncertain about her footing.
Our vet came out and examined her after a few days of being home with us, like he always does..And it was determined that our beautiful paint horse was almost completely blind…We had also gotten the bad news that our buckskin mare would not be sound to ride, except for very light weight riders, and light riding. Lola reared five times during her examination. She seemed to be freshly blind, and quick to react.
I was heart broken. Lucky Lola was our most expensive purchase the sale, and she was worth every dime. But now, I was worried that she would be dangerous to have around children with her rearing habit, and she would not see them to avoid coming down on them should she spook. I also was concerned about being able to turn her out later on with an electric fence. I was concerned I would not be able to find a good home for her with an owner who would be willing to be patient with her and work with her. She was obviously a well broke horse, but how many people wanted a blind horse? Especially one who rears all the time… And then the news about the buckskin being lame…And we realized Rusty, our project pony was going to be a bigger project than we realized…I thought, man..I prayed about this sale..God, what’s going on?
So the owner of the buckskin mare, recognized her on our page…Upon matching up the markings AND scars, we determined it was the same horse who was born on her property about 11 year prior. And the woman still owned her dam, who also had the same issues going on with her ankles. We, having raised the funds to do so, were able to give her to her previous owner, to stay as a forever horse and not worry about a kill pen again. But I still had this beautiful paint mare that I was so worked up about needing a home. What to do with a blind horse….. I was afraid someone would take her and not keep her for a long time, then it would be stressful on her, and she would likely sooner than later end up back at the loose pens…
Two of our sweet donors for the sale started sharing some info for me. Susan Cunningham of Galesburg, every single month donates to help us saves some lives, and her daughter, Kim Nugent, also helped raise quite a bit toward our December sale. These ladies have gotten to be very dear to me over the past couple of months! We have met some amazing people along the way… Kim Nugent passed on Lucky Lola’s information to a man in Florida named Brian…Brian contacted the vet, interested in Lola and scheduled a time for him to give her a thorough evaluation.
The vet came out on December the 23rd…You know what was amazing? Some of Lola’s eye sight seemed to be returning. I had noticed little changes in her behavior. I used to walk in her stall with an alfalfa cube, and I would tap it on the wood ledge in her stall window and she would come to it and barely let me pet her head. But one day, I was cleaning a stall next to her, and I noticed she was watching me. I thought…”Oh maybe she can hear me…”
It turned out, Brian did want her after all…And we had to figure out transportation. Brian sent us a donation to help with the transport and travel costs for our family to trailer her down to Labelle, FL to his place, Grassy Run Ranch. We were excited about Lola’s eyesight returning. Destini and I set up an obstacle course for her, and put her on a lead rope, and helped teach her to sniff things out and feel with her nose. She would go anywhere and was willing to work through obstacles slowly but surely for a grain bucket.
We had talked about the need to turn her out because we would not be delivering her until the end of January and it was around Christmas time. I did not know how she would do with the fence, but we took her out and introduced her to the pasture horses, and walked the perimeter with her, and introduced her to the electric fence. She seemed to be doing well, and that night we left her pastured. When Destini entered the barn the next morning, she was greeted at the door by two horses and Lola was in the hay room helping herself to all the hay bales and keeping everyone else out! It was really quite the site.
We tried again a couple of days later. I watched her nose around the property and she found any object that could be in her way of walking. After a while, she was on the other end of the pasture…I got a treat, walked to the fence, and whistled “Lola! Come here girl!” And she perked her head up and looked at me…And walked straight to me for her treat and let me pet on her! I think my heart melted that day. As the days went on, I noticed her vision slowly seeming to improve. Our vet also agreed that her vision appeared to be returning.
A couple more weeks went by and it came time to transport Lucky Lola to Florida…Let me tell you, it is a LONG haul from Galesburg, IL to LaBelle, FL. We spent roughly 25 hours in our van with our kiddos over a couple of days getting down there. We had adventures along the way!
We stopped in Perry, GA at a beautiful facility called Malatchie Trails..If you’re ever in Georgia and want a cool place to stay with your horse, check them out! They are amazing, friendly people and really took good care of us and Lola. There are 15 miles of trails there and beautiful scenery and lakes and small cabins that are very affordable.
Our next stop after staying in Malatchie was Grassy Run Ranch. We arrived at Grassy Run Ranch in the evening, and Brian and Loretta were ever so kind as to let us stay in their Cracker Cabin! We were beyond excited to arrive there, and see Lucky Lola’s beautiful new home. I can’t even begin to describe to you the amount of impact this trip made on us and our children. We had some amazing adventures and fun memories made, and learned so many life lessons along the way with Miss Lucky Lola and Grassy Run Ranch.
Grassy Run Ranch is AMAZING. There’s cattle, resident alligators, a few horses, rescue dogs…a beautiful mixture of wild life, and wonderful people! My emphasis really goes on wonderful people. Brian and Loretta are amazing people. I spent some time with Loretta and she treated me like a long lost friend. Brian really knows how to run a business, and is a very level headed man, with a kind heart. The world needs more people like the Dickerson family! Jane and John, Brian’s parents were so hospitable to us. And the family as a whole, will forever hold a special place in our hearts!
The Ranch was amazing, the people were amazing, I guess that leaves the AMAZING horse that got involved with all of this when someone dumped her in the kill pen auction. Whoever you are, who previously owned this beautiful Lucky Lola….her outcome could have been SO much worse… As it is for hundreds of horses each month at this sale. But I hope you can rest easier, knowing that Lola was the luckiest horse in the entire sale barn that day….
Lucky Lola is well loved and will live out her life at Grassy Run Ranch. Her vision is returning. She can SEE. She saw the cows, and the birds, she looked at me, and follows people along the fence. Maybe it really is true, what people say…Sometimes you just get Lucky.
Loved your story. I wish there was no such thing as a kill pen life is not fair always. Your place in heaven should be with all your horses that you have saved. I pray all evil in this beautiful country will soon be gone wouldn’t that be nice. Thank you for doing what you do.
<3 Thank you Dora! We love our job! Some days it is hard, but every day it is worth it.