TCV
Melody- as a baby with mom in the background!
Melody's (Mely) story is a good story to use as an example for safety on the trail.
Mely's story with us starts with a telephone call. Three years ago I got a phone call from the then president of the Mohawk Valley Arabian Horse Assoc. She told me she had received a phone call from a man in NYC that had a pure-bred arab mare that he wanted to find a good home for. When I called the man told me this horse had been trained in dressage and jumping and did it very well. My next question was, if she is so good why are was he giving her away? (logical question right) she was a bay, broke very well only 9 years old (sounds like a dream horse huh). Well Luke went on to tell me that Mely had a bad accident and was left blind on her left side.
My father, Mother and I went to look at the mare, blind was an understatement. The mare was missing her eye on the left side. I came to find out the whole story later, Luke and Mely had gone on a trail ride with friends in the woods one day, during the trail ride the person in front of them had grabbed a branch and kept walking, Mely had been hit full force on the left side of her face, damaging the eye beyond repair and breaking the bridge of her nose. Mely then was transported to Corneal University to have her eye removed and the damage fixed. Mely recovered well, but from that day on Luke had a fear of riding her (understandable considering she probably put up quite a fight when the accident happened).
When we got to the stable where Luke was boarding Mely I rode her in an outdoor ring and fooled with her to see if she would be dangerous on her blind side.( a free horse is worth nothing if it has problem). I rode her at all three gaits, well almost when I asked her to canter, we looked like a rodeo act for a while, but that was due to the fact she hadn't been ridden in over a year.
A week later we took Mely home, she is a bright and personable horse, The family loves her allot. We are finding more and more she looks to her handlers for support to help with her blind side. When you walk her you have to be on her left side to protect her from monsters, and if you aren't she is very spooky. Mely is very good on her blind side, she is saddled and mounted from that side like any other horse. When I mount bareback I mount from the left like all horses. At times I forget she is blind on that side at all.
My family and I go to Ottercreek every year, Mely goes and does very well there, over bridges and through narrow trails, she is a great trail horse. You have to pay attention when you ride her because of the blind side, my dad got a little to close to a tree one day while we were there and hit his knee pretty bad but other then that she is great.
Here we go with the moral again. Trail riding is fun and we all love to go, but please pay attention to those you are riding with and your surroundings, Its the little things that can be so dangerous. Tree branches are an everyday thing on trail rides, Just think about what would have happened if it wasn't Mely who got hit but Luke. We all have been riding with some one who let a tree branch go and hit us or our horses.
Please enjoy your horses and have a safe and fun time trail riding!
Thank you for reading my story hope to hear from you through e-mail !
