After a great deal of searching, I finally made a deal with a woman who owned Baron. When I first saw him, he was being ridden by his owner along the road and toward their driveway. I remember his spirited canter, his glorious white tail arched and flowing freely in the wind, and how my heart stopped when I realized that this horse would soon be my own.
I was so excited to ride him. Truthfully, he wasn't perfect when I tried him out. He tested me, but the owner offered the assurance that once he got attatched to me, he'd do anything I wanted. I trusted her, and trailered him the four hours back to my house. The picture above was taken after about ten minutes of being in my pasture, and he appeared to be comfortable and at home. However, after about fifteen minutes, my step-dad decided to return the trailer to the man we'd borrowed it from. Baron took notice, and I assume that he thought that the trailer was being brought back to his home, for he broke right through the electric fence and went tearing down the road. To put it lightly, I *flipped*.
My brother jumped in his truck, me joining him, and took off after him. If I'd never seen a horse bolt before, I had now. After about two miles, we finally caught up to him and managed to pass around him and get ahead so that I could jump out and attempt to stop him. I'm grateful that there was nobody else on the road, for the sight of me, arms outstretched yelling, "BARON!! WHOA BOY!!" would surely have been rather humorous, despite the terror that I felt inside. Of course, Barron darted around me, this occuring about three more times before he headed at a full gallop down a trail that would eventually lead to a highway. My brother could not drive down this trail, so I jumped out, barefoot, halter in hand, and ran after him. Again, I am thankful
that nobody was around to see this wild girl rampaging through the woods yelling at the top of her lungs, "God, if you can get him to stop, I will be eternally grateful!! I'll never be bad again!! Just help me God!!" Now, I used to be quite the runner in Elementary School, but had lost interest in the sport and hadn't ran for quite some time. Now I found myself amazed at my ability to run as fast as I can, my legs completely numb, and not tire. After about two miles, I saw Barron slowing down ahead of me. Immediately, I thanked God, and caught up to my horse. I slipped the halter on and looked to see what had stopped him. I found several flooded streams, and said, "Baron, you can be afraid of water for the rest of your life." I then proceeded to walk the four miles back to my house in my bare feet. It was nearly sundown and still managed to repair the fence. What a first day.
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