Rebel (not quite) this is the story of rebel:

We met Rebel when he was 4 years old, living on a farm where he lived with his mom. Mom being 30-32 years old, was all rebel knew. There wasn't even a house on the property. But there were neighbors! Oh yes the neighbors, they loved rebel! On Christmas day you would see them with there Santa hats on, dumping left overs over the fence for rebel to eat. Potatoes, turkey, stuffing, you name it, he got it. And yes, Rebel would run as fast as he could to eat those goodies. He would eat every last bit.

Rebel didn't save or share any with his mother either. When we met Rebel, he was about 500 pounds over weight, I can't imagine why, can you? The main meal at the barn was ears of corn, grass, hay, and the occasional turkey dinner. We brought Rebel and Sweetie Pie to our home to give them the life they so deserved. They had their own stalls, side by side, and fresh hay and water every day. They had a food quality grain, but NO more turkey dinners. As you can guess Rebel soon lost all that extra weight. And oh what a handsome dude he was! His coat was shining and he started to tone up when Corri began riding him.

We were not sure what his training had been so we were cautious with him. It did not take long to figure out 1. he did not know how to run fast and 2. he loved ice cream cones. To this day, don't think you can walk past Rebel with a pop or ice cream or whatever and think he doesn't want any. He truly is our junk food horse or as Corri calls him the "Horse Garbage Disposal!" When both Corri and Rebel were ready to show, we would go to the evening shows and be there for 4-5 hours at a time.

Now mind you Rebel could only do down and back , he was not good at turning and he did not run very fast. But he loved going, especially if you left him tied at the trailer. When at the trailer he would wiggle his way to the food storage and either dump the cooler over and rummage through it or get his head in the area where the candy and cookies were. Believe me, nothing was left when we got back! Just to let you know, he usually did not eat much of anything, but he sure chewed on it or stepped on it.

Time has passed and that big horse with a very young mind is now 17 years old and still very food driven. When I lock him up to eat he carries on nodding his head and whinnying to feed him. You know there is that chance I might forget him and you would not want that now would you. He lets me know he has a reputation to keep up.

Rebel is now ridden 2-3 times a week giving lessons or just going on a trail ride and his best girl is still Crazy. But if another girl ( 2 legged) comes around with food, he dumps Crazy for the food. It took Rebel until the age of 8 to really be the horse he is today, it was well worth the wait.

Until next time, Nancy