Chapter 3 :)

3. HOPE
Sam Leiferman took me under his wing. He was a softhearted cowboy with two daughters of his own, and one missing front tooth, but he didn’t care. He always had a smile on his face. He saw me ride one of his horses one day. She was a rank mare named Candy, who “tried” everyone who got on her back. That meant that she would “try” to find out just what you were made of before she would decide to let you make her do anything. I got on her to take her around the barrel racing course, one of the timed events where you run the horse in a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels. I rode her up to the first barrel and sure enough, she balked, backed up, turned around, spun and kicked out. I kept at her and stayed on. Then she decided to let me tell her what to do. I got to ride Candy at the next Playday and I earned Sam’s respect, and 7 ribbons! He told me that I rode better than his two daughters and they’d “been ridin’ since before they could walk.” That man gave me one of the best gifts of my life. He was the father that I never had. He treated me like I was one of his own daughters.

I competed in Playday after Playday on other people’s horses because we couldn’t afford one. I would cry myself to sleep wanting a horse but grateful that I could at least be around them. I won 2nd place high point two years in a row borrowing whatever horse was available at the local saddle club. That’ll sure teach a girl how to ride! Horses were my coping mechanism du jour.
It was a Monday night meeting like any other Monday night meeting at the local Kootnei County Saddle Club. My best friend Erin and I were galloping around trying to pay attention to the daily minutes of the last meeting… Not! Later that evening we saw Sam walking our way with a couple of people around him. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “you know that mare, Laurie?” I said a sheepish “yeaaah.” Laurie happened to be very pregnant and I had ridden her a few times. “Weal… I want to give you her baby when it’s born!” I don’t recall what happened next. I WAS GONNA HAVE A HORSE!!!!!!!

That Wednesday I got a phone call from Sam telling me that Laurie had her baby! I REALLY DID HAVE A HORSE!!! I was so excited to go see my baby! I had to wait a couple of days, Sam’s ranch was a little far away and it was a tough for my three-job-working mom to just pick up and go out there. Then Friday rolled around. I was so excited! Sam drove up in his dusty pickup truck to get me. I had my ten-gallon hat on my half pint head. Sam got out of his truck and walked up to my mom and I with a sad look on his face. You see, that’s the first time I every saw Sam without a smile on his face. My heart sank just a little. He gave me a big hug and told me that the mare, Laurie, wouldn’t feed her little filly… MY new baby horse. She rejected her. They tried everything they could to save her but the filly died. My heart hit the floor along with a few tears. Then Sam brought my mom and me out to his ranch. He lassoed a little wobbly-legged colt that was born two months earlier. Sam smiled, handed my mom and me the end of the lariat and said, “What’s on the end of this rope is yours.” That little guy pulled my mom and me around the corral for a while. He was small but he was mighty! Once I could catch my breath, and my new baby horse, I was floating on cloud 9 once again. Wow. Everything does happen for a reason because he turned out to be the best horse in the world!

Sam’s then girlfriend and later wife, Jan, suggested the name Forest Leprechaun and it stuck. So that was his name. Forest Leprechaun. He became my best friend and I was his. When we had to wean him from his mom it tore my heart up. He whinnied until he was a hoarse little horse listening for her to call back, but I was there for him. Then I became his closest friend. I would arrive at the pasture after riding my bike for 5 miles, I didn’t care, and call out to him. He would raise his head up so fast and come run to the fence to greet me with a bunch of whinnies and warm fuzzy nuzzles.

I also loved when I would get there and he was lying in the field and I would walk out to see him and lay there with him. I’d lift his head and put it on my lap and let him sleep a little longer. It was so amazing. It was also funny because I was there to work with him, to train him, too. We had a job to do! He just wanted to sleep. Finally, after he napped for a bit, and drooled on my leg (I loved it) I would tell him to get up. I’d lift his head and say “COME ON! LET’S GO!” He would just flop his cute little head down and lay there. I would do jumping jacks around him to get his energy up; he would still lie there. I would end up lifting up his head and getting serious, we’ve got work to do! With enough encouragement he would get up from the warm grass, shake himself off and we’d be on our way up to the round pen. I would “drive” him from the ground to train him - I would use a bridle and long reins to guide him because he was still too young for me to get on his back. I even showed him at the local fair in halter and won second place! There were only two of us in the competition - but I was still proud. I knew his confirmation was not ideal but I loved him to bits anyway. It really didn’t matter to me. He was my horse! That was good enough.

My mom’s mom, my grandma (wow… yeah, my horse ridin’ barrel racin’ steer ridin’ GRANDMA!) was in town and Forest was just about to turn two! That’s the age when you can actually ride a horse!!! BUT… he wasn’t quite two yet so I had it stuck in my half-pint head that I couldn’t get on him. My grandma said “git on him!” So I did. I do miss my grandma. I’m so very thankful that I took her advice. Because the first time I got on my horse, she was there, as was my mom. That meant a whole lot to me. And Forest was a perfect gentleman. I don’t know what else I thought he would do… we were best friends. He just walked around as if it were any other day. I just happened to be on his back. I guess I had it in my head that any time you first get on a horse they have some bucking to do; watched too many westerns I reckon. In fact, every horse I have trained has never had buck in ‘em when I got on for the first time.

Not much later I was riding Forest around with just a strap around his neck. No saddle, no bridle. He was a green broke two-year old horse! I would ride him in the mountains where there were apple trees and pear trees. We would ride up a ways and I would jump off to pick apples and pears from the trees to bring home. I had them all bundled up in the front of my shirt and would make sure he was on the downhill side so I could swing back up on his back. Sure enough he would bend his head around to eat the apples and pears that I had in my shirt, there were MANY on the ground all around us, really there was plenty of fruit to go around, but he wanted MINE. We would end up going in circles, me trying to get back on him, him trying to get my apples and pears! It would really crack me up. I think he was laughing too.

Then there was our game of hide-and-seek! The pasture, that I paid a whopping $15 per month for, was huge. It had a little lean-to at the top, a shed in one area and one big oak tree at the bottom. It was perfect. I would show up and Forest was always happy to see me. I would run down to the big oak tree and hide behind it. Forest would gallop down there with me and (I could hear his hoof beats) and I would “disappear” to him! He would go around and around that big oak tree looking for me… then I would jump out and he would buck and kick and fart and buck and kick and swing his head around in play. Then we’d start the game all over again. We loved it. Awwwww… the good ‘ol days.