Hattie:
  It is common at a horse auction that any
horse that is safe to ride will demonstrate what they can do
before the auction. There are no rings for these demonstrations
at most auctions. This riding is usually done up and down the
drive way outside the auction barns. I don't know if it is just
the difference of needs of the majority of other customers that
come to horse auctions and I, but it has always seemed to me that
the majority of these gravel driveway ridden horses are urged to
go their fastest, stop their fastest and spin their fastest.
Often I am left to wonder if they are really going to stop before
the highway at all. So it was with some amazement when I noticed
a smallish roan mare quietly loping up and down the driveway with
hardly a spin or quick turn in her tricks. "That horse is going
to bring a good price" I whispered to my partner in my
naiveté. How surprised was I when the little mare came
into the auction room and the bidding was some of the lowest of
the sale! Needless to say, I bid and won the pleasure of this
little mare that we now call Hattie. "You just won the best horse
in the sale!" commented an old grizzled horse trader in the row
in front of us. I do believe still that he was right.
 The surprise of Hattie
that was mentioned as I picked up her papers was that she may be
pregnant. She was, much to the unhappiness of Chris when she
found out. It is tough when you buy a horse for camp in May to
find out that her use will be limited for the first 11 months of
your ownership. The following April Hattie gave birth (with a
little help from her friends) to a strapping, funny looking colt.
That colt was determined a "keeper" and lives at Cedar Lodge
still (see Moose).
Since Hattie's first year at Cedar Lodge she has made up for that
first light year a hundred fold. Hattie does not and never has
jumped. She was originally (before horse auctions and pregnancy)
trained as a western reining horse. Since coming to Cedar Lodge
she has done exclusively beginner through beginner canter riders.
She works a full schedule and is always a favorite. We thank
Hattie for all her years and use her as an example of the older
worker, for Hattie was 16 when we bought her. She had a
foal and has worked at Cedar Lodge since 1994.
 In the past few
years, Hattie has been having trouble keeping herself up to the
weight that we feel she should carry to be a healthy horse. A
change in grain and feeding schedule did no help, so as a
compromise, when Hattie is not being used for classes she is
allowed free range of the Cedar Lodge lawns, where all the best
grass grows. She comes back to her stall for afternoon grain, and
accompanies her best friend Jasmine out to pasture with the herd
at night. As Hattie is what we call a lifer (she will always live
at Cedar Lodge) we feel this is the least we can do to repay her
for her kindness to so many riders. Way to go Hattie. We
love you.
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