Team #705 Marsha Collins and Abbey

Team #705: Marsha Collins and Abbey
From: Gunnison, Colorado
Ages: 68 & 32
Combined Age: 100
Test: WDAA Introductory Level Test 1
Date: October 8, 2023

I always wanted a horse, but I knew there was no point in asking my parents if I could have one. They were frugal types and not inclined to encourage expensive and dangerous activities.

Many years later, when I was living in Colorado, I went on a long trail ride with a friend. We rode through the mountains for miles and made it back just as a September storm began pummeling us with snow. A few weeks later I casually mentioned to my father-in-law, an old cowboy, that I wanted a horse. Sure enough, it wasn’t long before he emailed photos of a mare, he had found for me in Arizona. (I thought to myself, “I wasn’t really serious.”)

But a plan took shape and my husband and father-in-law met up in Tucson to trailer Abbey back to Colorado. (I asked my father-in-law if she had an official name and he said, “Hell, you can call her Abigail Von Buren if you want.”) Money changed hands and tack was loaded but Abbey had different ideas. She refused to load. The woman selling her then began having second thoughts about selling her beloved mare who was determined to stay put, so the money changed hands again and Abbey stayed in Tucson.

For the next few weeks, I half-heartedly looked at horses for sale but couldn’t get Abbey out of my mind. My husband had made the mistake of coming home and telling me she was beautiful. You can imagine my joy when I got an email from Abbey’s owners a month later asking if I still wanted her. I had her professionally shipped to Colorado and my twenty-year journey began.

It didn’t take long to realize that I wasn’t going to be riding off into the sunset on Abbey anytime soon. Half-Arabian and Half Quarter Horse, she was high-spirited with a mind of her own. She quickly learned I was lacking in horsemanship skills and took control. She started charging me on the ground, taking hours to load on the trailer, and ready to race up every hill, but she never bucked. By the grace of God and a lot of patience, persistence, precautions, lessons, clinics, videos, books, and coaching, we made it to where we are today relatively unscathed. Thank you to all the people who helped me along the way!

Abbey is 32 now and the sweetest mare you could ask for. She’s still raring to go, but not very far! Becoming a Century Club member was the culmination of a long and challenging journey – one of the most enriching and rewarding experiences of my life!