by Cynthia Mcbride

Created on: April 18, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

As a child, I dreamed of having my own horse, but it was not to be. I always thought of that as a misfortune of some kind, as I watched other people enjoy horse ownership.

It was not until I found Scout, that I realized that all of those many years of working for riding instructors to earn my lessons, working for a breeding ranch where I learned about horse behavior and care, and riding hundreds of horses for other people (mostly problem horses) gave me the vast experience I would need to tame this wild horse.

I had finally, at the age of thirty seven, bought myself a horse. A very large, stubborn Quarter Horse/Thoroughbred gelding named Norman. Oh yes, a problem horse, because that somehow had become my specialty. Norman and I got along very well together, because I was always firm with his trying ways, but also fair. And Norm certainly knew the difference in when he was being treated fairly and unfairly.

Unfortunately, after only eighteen months together, Norman developed an impaction. There was never any clue, it was so sudden. After about 36 hours, my beloved Norman passed away at the veterinary clinic.

I was heartbroken. I had waited for what seemed like forever to get a horse of my very own, and then I suddenly lose him a short time later? But life is anything but fair.

Several weeks passed by and I placed an ad on a horse internet site,looking for a problem horse. I did not have much money after the huge vet bill, and also, I wanted to possibly save a life. Something good had to come out of Norman's loss.

I am certain there is a truly crazy horse out there somewhere, but I have never seen one. When someone tells me they have a 'crazy' horse, I want to go see it, because, most likely the horse is not crazy, he has simply been mishandled due to lack of knowledge or just plain abuse. And so it was with Scout.

A woman answered my ad, telling me her brother had a Quarter Horse ranch and was selling off everything. There was a bay gelding there that I could have for only $400 because he was'crazy'. He had been greenbroke as a two year old, then went into a bucking fit with one of the ranch hands because, supposedly, a wild pig had gotten under him. The man had shattered his shoulder and the horse was deemed crazy and 'thrown away' to run wild and free on 10,000 West Texas acres for five years. My first thought was, why would a wild pig get under a horse? I drove out to see the crazy horse.

When I got to the ranch, there were about 15 horses of various ages in a large

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