This mare was only a 3 yr old when I bought her at a registered auction for $1,200. I bought her less than 2 years after the broken back Hawg had gifted me, and by then was using my professional trainer friend Darrin Hornberger to put the first 30 days on anything I bought. Darrin knew how badly my confidence had been shaken and not only did a great job, but was always brutally honest with me as to whether or not he thought I was going to be comfortable with a prospective new horse. He only rode Brandy 3 times and called me to tell me to come and get her. His words were "you don't need me to ride this one for you" and he was right! For such a young horse she was bomb proof and as calm and easy to get along with as any horse I have ever owned. Still to this day.
I took Brandy to lots of shows, you see for a good portion of my life I was at a horse show competing literally every weekend. There was even a time when there was offered a show on both Saturday and Sunday and naturally I showed both days. I was not wealthy, as a single mom at the time I owned Brandy I would not have been able to afford that except for the fact that in Indiana horse shows offered "paybacks" or prize money to the winners and well....the mare was phenomenal. Not only in the ring but everywhere else. I took her on camp outs, trail rides, and road rides. There was nothing that rattled that amazing young mare.
I kept her I think for 3 years until a teen 17 something girl approached me about buying her. She asked " Is this the mare I saw you carrying a baby's play pen on over at the show arena at Danville?" I confirmed that indeed it was and the next words out of her mouth were "I'm looking for a new horse, what would you have to have to sell her" I priced her at $2,500 and she did not even blink an eye. The next day she showed up with her father aka "checkbook" and their horse trailer in tow. I really hated to sell Brandy but being strapped as a single mom it seemed like the right thing to do. Besides the money I got for her I would also be avoiding the next 4-5 months of a winter feed bill. My family needed to come first so I sold the mare.
Had I known what would transpire from that decision I would never, ever, had let that wonderful horse slip from my hands. As it turned out the "young lady" ruined the mare and managed to even make her downright dangerous. The story I got was that she was using her electric clippers on her ears in their barn that had a very low ceiling right under the light bulb. The mare flipped her head, broke the bulb, and got a nasty shock. That caused her to rear and flip over backwards. From that point on the mare had that very dangerous habit.
I got a call some time later from a professional trainer that she had hurt and was told to call me to come and pick her up otherwise he had instructions to haul her to the meat sale. The owners were no longer were willing to keep her. Which in all honesty under the circumstances was a good decision on their part. I went and picked up the little mare that I held such a warm place in my heart for.
Sad as it was I found the extent of her vice was every bit as bad as they had told me it was, and they were not exaggerating in the least. I kept her for another 6 months trying unsuccessfully to rehabilitate her back to her former self with only limited success. In the end I sold her as a broodmare with strict warnings not to ride her due to her potentially deadly habit. The gal that bought her used her for a broodmare for many, many, years. She raised some really nice babies from her.
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