Ben

Ben was my first horse.  In so many ways, he was my great love.  I remember so well the rock of his canter, the fearless way he pushed through branches on the trail, and how much he loved to eat blackberry leaves.

Unfortunately for Ben, he wasn't always loved.  He came to me starved, dull, and hopeless.

Ben's life before me is mostly a mystery.  I took these photos of him the first week I had him, when the life was just starting to come back into his eyes.

He had an AHA freezebrand on the right side of his neck, and I was able to track down his lost history and his lost name.  He was bred by Clark and Nancy Hickman and registered as Baskovia, son of Segovia (Cal-O-Bask x Ellise) and Brass Button (Shurfix x El Nimrah).  He was born in 1984, the same year as me.  He had a show record and placed well as a breeding stallion in AHA rated halter shows throughout the Pacific Northwest.  He was gelded at 4 and trained for English Pleasure, but his show record went cold and his trail stopped the year he turned 7.

Then, in 2005, as a 21 year old, skin and bones with a split hoof and a tail cropped to the bone--the mark of a "slaughter only" horse--he resurfaced in a feedlot in Yakima, Washington, awaiting transport to slaughter in Canada.

But that wasn't to be his fate, and by September he was mine.

First week home in 2005: skin and bones.

I boarded him at the small stable I grew up riding in, up a windy, forested road in South Eugene, Oregon.

His eyes became bright again and his weight returned.  That first summer, he shed out into a beautiful, bright shiny bay.  I took this picture of him in 2007, just before his 23rd birthday: finally his weight was where it should be, and he was his happy and calm self, secure in knowing he wasn't going anywhere without me.

I couldn't believe how lucky I was.  For me, he was the perfect horse: sensitive, willing, brave, and incredibly loving.  

I'll have many stories to tell of our time together throughout this blog.  Some of my fondest memories are of him resting his velvet muzzle against my face, braiding his mane while he grazed outside, and cantering him down the riverside trails he loved so much.

 Our first schooling show, in April of 2006.

He left this world in my arms, and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect horse.  He was my life, and he left it looking like a million bucks, just shy of his 26th birthday.

A sunny day in the pasture with Chev, 2007.

Chev and I miss you, Binner.  But you live on in my memories.  And there are so many stories to tell.

His last evening on pasture with his love, Chev. June 13, 2010.