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We are all probably a little guilty of looking up an old high school friend or grade school nemesis or maybe a past significant other … on the Web.

Well, for me, I sometimes search for the horses I’ve bred, trained and sold.

(My heart goes thunk every time I say that… ‘sold’.)

Actually, that was one of the (many) reasons I got out of the breeding and showing business… I couldn’t keep them all and I couldn’t control what happened to them after they left my purview.

Anyway, yesterday, while temporarily avoiding something I should have been doing, I hunted on the Web for my horse, Unfaithful.  She was Mama Tess’ 2nd foal – born in 1999.  I bred her, was there when she arrived, loved her, wiped her runny nose…, took her swimming, picked her trainer and sent her off to her career.  And, after she performed very well, I did what a breeder does… I sold her.

Gulp.  No matter how often or for whatever reasons or to whichever perfect person… it always hurt me to sell them.

So, I find myself hunting for them – hoping I find good news.

I had looked for Unfaithful (Ava) previously, but had lost touch after her third owner…

But on this day, I got lucky!

SHE WAS WITH A TRAINER IN NORTH CAROLINA!

I found Ava in North Carolina – with a Morgan trainer.

So, I looked up their website and contacted him.

To my large surprise, he wrote back almost immediately!

This is what he said:

Dawn
“Ava” is one of the lucky ones. I bought her 5 years ago and she has become my favorite horse. I hop on her and ride bareback with a halter and she’s a perfect gem. We give 60 lessons a week and a 10 year old fell in love with her so I sold them 1/2 interest. Ava is the love of her life. She takes lessons on her 3 times a week and the two of them have taken many blues in equitation and pleasure at class A shows this past year.

The 10 Yr Old researched her and showed me pics of her dam and pics of Ava as a foal. At the Southern States Regional show last May, she rode Ava and gave a speech about baking Ava her favorite cookies and ended up Youth of the Year!

I’m so pleased you contacted me, I can’t tell you how much joy she has brought to all of us, and all because you had the forsight to create her.

Cudos!

I will see the young girl this evening for a lesson , could I give her your email address? she would be thrilled to hear about Ava in the beginning and to know about her dam.

If you have any pics of her dam I would appreciate seeing them as well. I will find a recent pic of Ava and forward.

Best
Jim Paden

THE LITTLE GIRL…

And today, I received 7 emails from the little 10 year-old girl who is riding Ava.  I was so happy my heart was singing!  Yes!  My girl had landed very well.  Read this very cute email!

Dear Ms. Diovera,
Hello! This is the incredibly happy half owner of Ava who couldn’t imagine a better horse EVER!) Jim told us yesterday at my lesson, that you had contacted him. He also showed me the pictures on your blog (most of which I have already seen while stalking my horse on the Internet :D) and asked me to write to you! So, here I am! These are some pictures that I have found, where I don’t look like a total dork (this type of picture is very rare).

OH HAPPY DAY!!

My heart was singing!!

This little girl wrote to me 7 times today and I wrote back 7 times!  She asked me all about Mama Tess and all of her babies.  She asked about Ava’s father (DFM KEEP THE FAITH) and Ava’s full brother (Bellorazzo).

She then asked to see pics of all of Ava’s brothers and sisters.  So, I sent as many as I could.  I also told her about Ava’s baby and sent a pic of her, too, because Ava’s third owner (Copper Beech) had sent it to me.

And then she told me how much she loved Wrigley’s photos.

I told her that Wrigley was very special and very talented.  She told me that she thought he was really cute and loved him – again.

I told her that if she worked really hard at horsemanship and all that that means… and if she was excited about the Park division, and all that that means…. and if the stars aligned… well, you just never know…

I will sleep tonight with a smile on my face.