by Charity Nicole Robertson

Created on: June 30, 2010

Every little horse loving, girl's dream is to one day own the horse they have spent years dreaming about. My dream came true on my eight birthday when my parents took me to the horse auction and bought me my first horse. It wasn't until years later though that I experienced the love of a horse.

It all started when I decided to start buying, selling, and training colts. One winter day I went to the auction without really the intention of buying anything, but when they brought in a little five month old, undernourished colt, I changed my mind. I bought that little guy for twenty-five dollars and took him home.

He really didn't have much to him and in reality he was on his last leg, but I was determined that I would do my up most to give him a second chance at life. Cochise was so skinny that he could barely walk and his winter hair was from about two and a half to three inches long. His front chest muscles were so sunk in that you could put your hand into his chest.

As the months passed, Cochise began to gain weight and to start looking like a healthy colt once again, and at the same time show his appreciation to me. For some reason or other he did not like men and would show no respect for them, but when I came near him he turned into a gentle lamb. My neighbors kept telling me that I had better castrate him or he was going to turn mean. Cochise was only two years old, but around me he was a perfect gentleman and never showed me any disrespect.

I never had any reason to feel any fear of him, since we had such a close bond together. He always preferred me to any of the other horses and when I went out in the field he would come over to me and gladly let me pet and scratch him all over. When it came time for me to gentle him, I had absolutely no problems with him. He was so filled with trust for me, that he knew I would never hurt him.

During this time, he had showed his favoritism to me, but it wasn't until I began to teach him to jump that he showed his love for me. Cochise always knew when he had jumped well and when he had done well, he would come over to me and wrap his neck around me in a tight, horsey hug. He would refuse to keep jumping until he had given me his special hug.

Sometimes we would stand there for several minutes and just enjoy each other. When he decided that it was enough he would let me go and we would continue jumping. Whenever he knocked down a pole, he would lower his head like a naughty little boy and try again. It was so funny when he would jump well, because it was as if he would puff himself up and say that he was the best.

He got to where he rarely knocked down anything and would put his whole heart into his jumps. When I began riding him, he would stop at times and wrap his head around my leg just letting me know that he still loved me. I have no idea why or how he learned to hug me, but it was something special he learned all by himself. Those hugs of his were something that always left me filling very special and greatly loved.

All of this ended one fateful day in September when he supposedly ate a poisonous weed. That morning he had come over to me healthy and fit as always, but four hours later he was dead. I will always remember him for those special hugs of his and the awesome times we had together.

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