Tag: Overcoming Adversity

By Judith Dunham Even though I first started riding at age 10, I took many years away from the sport to pursue a career in...

“I love to tell people, ‘THIS is what a rescue looks like’” says Courtney, “He is the best partner I’ve ever had...I could not be luckier that fate sent him my way.”

She could see past what Zorro and I were individually to what we could be together. Even though I thought she was crazy, I trusted her, and the journey began.

Sam was a bright copper chestnut gelding. Four years old and not broke. His pictures just spoke to me like no other horse’s pictures did. I discovered that he had been at an Amish broker’s barn as a three-year-old, brought to the New Holland, PA auction twice as a three-year-old, and sold to a meat buyer there. The American Saddlebred Legacy Foundation had been tracking him and bought him from the meat buyer, putting him into their herd of rescues. They evaluated him as “special” and felt he needed to go to an equally special home that understood his needs.

It was Sept 30, 2018. “YEEEEEOW!” The crowd screams, we’re under the bright lights, and all 22 of us are going a seeming hundred miles per hour, vying for the judges attention, nostrils flared, and feet pounding the earth. After 10 years and countless shows, this is the culmination of our career as a saddleseat team, my last saddleseat view between the ears, and boy is it bittersweet.

Nautica is every teenage horse girl's dream; tall, dark, and handsome with a big personality and heart to match.

#2372 was my gelding’s number. I bought him sight unseen, off a 30-second video and two pictures. I broke every rule of horse buying that day.

In August 2010, Courtney Anderson lost her left hand in a ranching accident, when she was only 18 years old. While she was ponying a mare to another pasture on the ranch where she was working, the mare spooked and Courtney found her hand caught in the rope, unable to free herself. Much of her hand was damaged far too extensively to consider other options. However, six week post-op, they couldn’t keep her away, and Courtney was horseback gathering and working bulls. Needless to say, since the accident Courtney has become quite adept at thinking outside of the box to accomplish her goals.

An exciting week was planned...  Juniors and Young Riders (ages 14-21) from across the country had converged on Traverse City, Michigan, for North America’s premier equestrian competition: the FEI North American Youth Championships (NAYC)!  After the 2020 cancellation, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone was especially excited to be back for the show. Then, they checked the weather forecast and saw a storm was on the horizon. 

Moose came into my life when, truthfully, I couldn’t have needed him more. I found myself mid-pandemic unemployed, at my heaviest weight, and depressed. My friend recommended I start riding again, something I hadn’t done in over three years and did very much miss. However, there was no way I was getting on any average sized horse, with my then weight being well over 250lbs. So she told me to find something big enough that I would feel comfortable.