Minnie Mae (Part I)

I can still remember driving down that old dirt road. I was having a hard time sitting still because I was so excited. My dad had agreed to at least look into buying me a filly to raise, and we were going to check some out. We arrived at a farm where there were lots of fillies and colts for sale. We looked at them all. But it just didn't seem any of them were right for me. I knew what I wanted......a petite filly with a kind eye. These were all so......well, large. I guess the lady noticed I didn't seem to be too excited over any of the ones she was showing me, so she suggested a little filly she was keeping at a friend's house. She said it was sort of like a pet. When I saw her, it was love at first sight. She was a small little blond girl, and she was so, so sweet. I knew she loved me as instantly as I loved her. At the time I was eight years old.

She arrived at our small farm on a warm spring day. She loved her new home immediately. That day I named her Minnie Mae, and she was to become my best friend.

Minnie grew and thrived on our farm, and I loved taking care of her. When she was a year old, dad bought a much larger farm; and we moved to a small rural town in North Alabama. Minnie, and our other five horses, went with us. The farm was huge, with two large pastures, a great pond, a big old barn and lots of room for my brother and I to explore and play. But I didn't know any girls my age, so I was sometimes lonely. That is when Minnie and I became even better friends. I would sit in the pasture with her and talk and tell her how I was feeling. She was a very good listener :).

Then one day my dad told me that Minnie was going to have a foul of her own. I couldn't believe she had grown up so fast and was now going to be a momma. I was so excited and counted the days until she would deliver. I began to spend even more time with Minnie. Besides my parents and brother, she was more and more becoming my best friend.

My dad became concerned about Minnie and her size. She was such a small horse, and she was getting much too big much too quickly. Dad was worried she might be carrying twins. He explained to me that horses most often cannot carry twins. And Minnie was way too small and delicate to even have a chance of carrying them. My dad called the vet, and he came out and took a look at her. I still remember him saying, "She ain't carrying twins; she just has a big ole grass belly". He didn't even check her. Later Dad wished he had insisted on it.

To be continued......