by David Mcmahon

Created on: May 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

Get a horse and your life will never be the same. Many people who grow up with horses don't understand this, but for those of us who got them later in life, horses mark a crossing point where your life will never be the same. What horses have done for me is improve my confidence and make me "grow up" in ways I didn't know I needed to. I'd like to introduce how horses changed my life by discussing how I got my first horse.

I didn't grow up with horses, but got suckered into them following a woman I knew out to a horse rescue ranch, where I met two nutty equines: an arabian horse named Goose and a donkey named Zeke. The rest is history and now I own four horses of my own. This is the story of how I came to own Goose.

Working at a rescue ranch is kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, it gives people a chance to interact with horses who might not otherwise be able to, say because they live in an urban area and don't have access to enough land. But on the other hand there are some sad stories of abuse. I had never been around horses before, so when I first started visiting the ranch (www.wncr.org), I found them very intimidating. They are big and they move fast. So what is a newbie to do? I decided to spend time with this disabled donkey named Zeke.

Zeke was a sweet little guy who had a hard life. I really don't know too many details, but my understanding was some people got the idea they'd like a donkey but didn't really know what they were getting into. Apparently when they got him they ended up just neglecting him, leaving him shut up alone and never giving him basic care. Equines need lots of special treatment like having their hooves trimmed on a regular basis. This was never done for Zeke, so his hoofs grew out like giant cork screws. He was unable to walk around and this caused him a major disability that would eventually take his life prematurely.

This is quite a shame because Zeke was a very sweet animal with quite a personality. In my early days of getting acquainted with equines, having grown up in pure urban suburbia, I found Zeke a pleasure to be around. I couldn't do much with him but enjoyed visiting with him, feeding him treats, and grooming him.

I didn't know it at first, but Zeke would draw me to my first horse. This flashy half-Arabian gelding named Goose ended up at the ranch. Apparently his owner had MS and couldn't ride him anymore, so she donated him to the ranch in hopes they would find him a good home. I started seeing Goose when I would go to visit

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