Sonoita-Highland's After Glow

Sunny was born 8 years ago at a very fancy Miniature Horse farm in California. He was a 32 inch palomino no nonsense kind of guy. When I saw his picture last year I had to have him. I couldn't get that face out of my mind. So my friend Gail, her daughter Ashlee, and I went to Tacoma to "just look" at him. Needless to say we fell in love and loaded him up into the back of my jeep and took him home.



At first Sunny was a bit of a disappointment. He wanted nothing to do with me. He hated being brushed and loved on and was known to give any unassuming animal a good swift kick if they tried to get near his food. He had the swing around and kick down to a science. He also had a way of looking innocent when I swung around to see what he had done. He'd be grazing casually.

So I got out my clicker and started to clicker train him. He loved to work for treats. The bonding had begun. I started to love and respect him for what he was not what I had hoped he'd be. Even though he didn't enjoy the human touch he stood well for hoof trimming and vet care. My vets loved him. All the other animals learned very quickly that Sunny liked his personal space and to give him lots of room when goatgirl was doling out the treats.

In the last few months Sunny had come around. He started to come over to see what I was doing and when I got down to his level he enjoyed a good head rub. Gail said it takes about a year to truly bond with your horse and we were approaching the year mark.

Hubby liked him just the way he was. He would reach out to pet him and Sunny would turn away. Hubby didn't care. He called him "Sunny Jim" and talked to him without petting him. Hubby has no expectations for our animals so is able to love them for what they are. Sunny was one of his favorites.

Sunny was just damn cute to look at. He brought smiles to everyone that saw him. Even on his last day as I walked him up and down the street to try to relieve the pain and get him to poop people stopped and talked or just drove by with a huge smile on their face. The whole neighborhood was praying for Sunny's recovery by the end of the day.

All my friends got a chance to run behind that little horse and get that goofy grin on their faces. It was just fun for some reason to trot down the street behind this little gentleman.
Luckily goldilocks got a chance to feel the wind in her hair and get the goofy grin when she visited in July.
It was something that was important for me to share with her, my new daughter. They looked so cute together. Both small and blond.

My friend called yesterday,the one that made his bridle and driving reins, and said, "We had fun with him didn't we?"
Yes we had fun!
I was just expecting 20 more years of it.