by Cody Tyler

Created on: April 27, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

In 1998 I bought a journal. There was nothing special about this journal just something to write my thoughts in; thoughts about my new horse.

His name was Thunderheart and he was a 16 hand quarter horse. He was a big boy with a stocky build. His solid black mane and tail stood out against his red roan coat. He was perfect! And most importantly he was mine! I bought Thunder after my husband and I had moved out to the country. We have our own little slice of heaven. We live in a small log home surrounded by trees. We have a pond out front and a barn out back. And with 11 acres of land that left plenty of pasture for Thunder.

I had been searching for a horse for about 5 months. All I wanted was a good solid trail horse. On the phone every seller would tell me that THEIR horse never spooked. So I'd hop in my car and drive to various farms but every time I got on"the horse that wouldn't spook" I would find out the hard way that their horse did indeed spook!

Weekend after weekend went by and I was frustrated but determined to find the kind of horse that was right for me. So when I went to meet and ride Thunder I was skeptical. My skepticism lasted about 1 minute. Thunder seemed to have a friendly temperament and he never moved while I mounted him. I rode him around silos that had wind whistling in between them and he never hesitated once. I took him around everything I could find that would scare most horses but he never wavered. As I rode back to the owner I thought this is the horse for me!
I know I should have had a vet check Thunder out before I bought him but I just couldn't wait. I loaded him into a friend's trailer that I had borrowed and took my new horse home.

I showed him his stall and walked with him around the pasture and he seemed happy as can be so I decided to ride him. (Most people let the horse settle in for a day or two before riding.) I was so giddy that I wanted to show all of my neighbors my new horse. I first stopped by my friends across the road. They have about 80 acres of land and their house sits back off of the road. I could see them all sitting out on the porch, so wanting to show off I galloped Thunder right across some of their open acreage up to the front door. I was grinning ear to ear. I noticed that the "Boots" had gone inside before I got there and it wasn't until later that I learned he had gone inside so he wouldn't yell at me for tearing up his field. I was so wound up that I hadn't even noticed the large chunks of mud that were

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