Coragh’s story
I’d bought all my mares and I was done shopping for horses; 3 fillies had all but taken up my budget and I really thought I was done, but it seemed fate had different plans.
On a trip to Ireland we inspected our purchases and I was quite pleased with my choices. Although we had seen all my choices, one more pasture of horses was left to see and so we went.
As we approached one mare stood alone, and my eyes were drawn to her, but as you’ll remember, I wasn’t shopping. I spent my time admiring horses, never planning on buying another…
Horse by horse, I looked over the herd. So many nice horses. As I viewed the lovely horses I turned my back on the mare whose eyes met mine walking though the tall grass enjoying a fine Irish day. Glancing back I saw my daughter standing with the mare; Where the mare walked my daughter followed and then where my daughter walked so followed the mare. This went on for an hour or more, until I’d looked at every horse and it was time to go home.
My daughter’s blue eyes pleaded for just one more… I know she thought I was hard, but my budget and mind were set. We boarded a plane and flew home. Each day my daughter talked about that one special mare. A few weeks passed and I thought she’d forget, but she continued to talk about her, telling me of her plan to save enough for the mare, not truly knowing the cost of buying and importing her, but trying to find a way. Another week passed, and an email arrived with Photos of the mare and my daughter standing in the golden rods, quite entranced with one another.
So I called about the mare, and quickly balked at her price. The exchange rate was bad, but if I could get her for Dollars instead of Euros, I thought, well, I could swing it, and after a few phone calls a deal was struck.
Eventually the mare came home. One spring morning my usual morning routine of getting my children ready for school was interrupted. My daughter was in tears with severe stomach cramping. I got her hot pack for her stomach, broke out some medicine and tried to make her comfortable.
My morning routine already disrupted, I made an early trip to the barn, something I rarely do. A visit before school meant kids who were late because I can get lost in the barn, the day gone by and I wouldn’t even care. Upon my arrival I see Coragh looking anxiously out of the back door of her stall. I follow her gaze, and find a new born foal laying just outside the door… Screaming with excitement I realized she had foaled during the night or early morning, and her foal must have slipped though the cattle gate.
Hurriedly, I put him back inside with his dam, my daughter making her way down to the barn despite her illness, worried about the excited calls from the barn. She and her mare leaned on one another, watching a new born colt, both slightly uncomfortable, but still content.
Had my daughter not been ill, it would have been hours before I found momma and foal, a critical few hours, and I counted my blessings… About a year later I met a woman who knew my daughter’s mare, for she had almost bought her….
The reason she didn’t may seem odd to some, but I have come to believe it’s true. The woman told me she communicated with animals, and she had asked the mare if she wanted to come live with her, the response was “NO, I belong to a girl”. The woman, at the time, believed she must have been talking about her prior owner, but after hearing of the bond between Alex and Coragh, she realized as I did, that those two belonged together. So now a horse I never intended to own lives on our farm, and she brings such joy to us that I know it was money well spent.