Two Paths Farm (and life on it): Decade of Deuce

10 years. It seems like a lifetime and a moment at the same time.

Ten years ago I lost my big Burt. It took a while to warm up to looking for another horse, but I knew I wanted something different than what I'd had - something small, something that wasn't grey, and a fun project. I was hoping to do competitive trail again, like I did with Burt. I tried out a few horses. Nothing really clicked. A friend sent me this ad for a little black horse that was titled "Trail Horse Deluxe". Ad said he was 7 years old, husband safe, experienced on trails, a good guy. He was also a half Arab, which at first I wasn't too keen on. I called, turned out they also had a 3 year old for sale, so I could meet both horses and see if I liked one. So I drove to Fayetteville and we took both horses out on a trail ride - I started out on the 7 year old half Arab, and rode back on the 3 year old. I really liked the 3 year old. A lot. But he had some funky shaped knees and I had concerns about his long term soundness. The 7 year old...he was ok. I decided to think about it for a bit, went back and rode him again, thought some more, and decided he'd be "suitable", and if I didn't like him, I could work with him and sell him. No hearts in my eyes, no big dreams of greatness....just that this little black horse was suitable.

The day we met

I told hubby that I found a horse I wanted to buy. He had 2 questions: Is it ugly? Is it crazy? Definitely no for the first question, this little black horse was really cute. Crazy? Eh, that's subjective. So I made arrangements with the seller, picked Deuce up, took him to my vet for a once over to make sure he was healthy, and took him to where we'd be boarding, turned him out in his new pasture so he could get used to things for a day or so....and he promptly kicked through the wire fence at the mares next to him, got his back legs tangled in the wire, took off in a panic, ripped the wire off that entire length of fence from corner to corner, and let me have my first heart attack as his owner as he tore through trees trying to get free. I was sure we'd be putting him down on our first day together.

Deuce just hoped chicks dig scars. That was all he ended up with - 2 tiny scars on his hind legs.

It was not the best first day.

And now you know why hubby drinks

Grady came out to meet my new horse and help me start him. He put Deuce in the round pen to see what Deuce knew, and apparently Deuce had always been chased in the pen, so he took off like a maniac, and when Grady stepped in front of him to have Deuce change direction, Deuce ran Grady over. Grady quietly left the pen, said let's let the horse sort his life out, and he let Deuce run for 20 minutes on his own. And that was the end of round pen lessons for Deuce. Grady asked if the horse was broke to ride. I said I rode him twice! Grady responded well, you aren't riding him again till I say so.

And so we started. Weekly lessons with Grady. Homework for us on the days in between. Teaching Deuce new things like loading in the trailer, tying quietly, clippers, seeing new things, just learning to be sensible with good manners. It was a long road. By December, I still wasn't enthralled with the horse. I remember Grady sitting me down and saying "We are taking a break for the holidays. When we start back up in January, I want you to decide if you want to work with this horse or not. If, not, we sell him and find a better horse for you, but I'm not spending any more of my time or your money on a horse you can't get along with". Grady comes with a lot of tough love.

Our first lesson back I hauled Deuce to Grady's place, he has an obstacle course set up in his big arena, and he had me and Deuce work through it. Then he said "hang on" and opened a gate. 2 goats, a pony and a donkey wandered in. He said your horse needs to learn to focus, ignore them and keep going. I said ok, but there's a goat in my way...."Well, either be stop and let the goat take over, or move that goat and keep going!" Then I had a roping lesson. "If you can rope a goat, you can rope a cow". It was Deuce's first time roping, too. (I still can't rope a goat. Or a cow.)

And pushed way out of our respective comfort zones, we clicked. That was it. Like soldiers in a trench together, we were partners to the end. We found Deuce and I do best when we both learn something brand new at the same time. As Grady says "you two aren't afraid to fail, you're afraid to miss out on fun". Or, as I say it "we aren't afraid to suck at something new".

So we tried a lot of stuff:

Deuce is a good sport - we were Juan Valdez and his coffee donkey

All I can remember is how tight a fit this was!

We were not good at working cows, but we had fun!

So, I had bought the horse to do competitive trail riding, and Deuce tended to be totally unpredictable on trails. Grady said he wasn't worried, he was sure I could handle the horse, but I didn't see 25 miles of "when is he going to rear and bolt" being a lot of fun. Deuce just didn't dig the whole trail riding deal. He'd do it because he's a good guy but it didn't light him up. So I asked Grady what he thought. He said if I owned a horse like that, I'd compete at something until I won, I'd hang that ribbon on the wall, and then I'd try something new with him, and keep going like that. So that's what we did...ranch horse versatility, trail classes, western dressage, cow work, reining, extreme trail challenges... Some things just aren't for us, but we tried them anyway. We had a blast. We had really bad days. We did dumb things. I learned Deuce didn't work for me, he was my partner.

You never know when you'll walk out of an arena, and Grady will be right there, smiling, saying don't worry, we'll fix it, go have fun with your horse!

Awards dinner for our first year of showing. I think Grady was proud.

That bossy attitude got us into trouble more than once. Deuce would figure out he could bully barn staff, and we'd get a call that Deuce refused to get his blanket on, or he was being difficult in some fashion. So hubby or I would go to the barn, Deuce would be well mannered and respectful, and what can you say - he's too smart for his own good. But that motivated us to get our own place, let him live with us and he'd be happy and we'd be...essentially his barn staff. He runs this place and everyone knows it.

When you are a boss, you can run things your way

He doesn't need tied - he won't leave me.

It seems like the last few years haven't been good to us. Deuce had a fall while training, damaged a ligament in his leg and I bruised soft tissue in my knee. We both had to rest for a while. When he was ready to start working again he started showing back pain and we found out he had kissing spine - which explained why such an athletic horse struggled with some maneuvers. He had some problems with his feet. Arthritis started to set in. I'd get him going, and something would happen and we'd have a setback. So we started doing a lot of slow trail rides with his buddy Chuck, and Deuce decided maybe trail riding could be a fun, relaxing thing, and he didn't need to be so anxious all the time. And I said good, because for all your injuries, we can't go back to what we used to do - no more hard stops or quick turns. It's time to look for new options.

Ten years together, and we've never grown tired of taking a step back, working hard, and being willing to suck at something new. Sometimes I look at him and wonder if he's ready to hang it up, just be a fun pleasure horse, save the harder training for Joker. Deuce certainly doesn't owe us anything. And every time I think maybe it's time to let him chill out I get that bright eyed, "you better hang on tight today!" look and I know this isn't a horse who is going to retire gracefully. He's not done helping me train Joker yet. We aren't done having fun. We haven't finished our battle of wills.

Having a "discussion" about which trail we are going to take.

The little guy didn't end up "suitable", we ended up well suited for each other. As hubby says, any sane person would have shot or sold the horse by now.

But we work well together, somehow.