Tainted Alliance

DOB Sept. 17, 1997

Paint Mare (Registered PtHA)

15.1 Hands

 

In 2000 I began my search for the horse of my dreams. I had grown up with horses my entire life (about 20 years at the time), but sadly had lost my riding mount due to melanoma about 6 months prior. After riding my sisters', and friends' horses for several months, I decided it was time to have one for myself again, so thus began my search. I REALLY wanted a welsh cob as I had always grown up with welsh, but was unable to find one that was my perfect match at the time...

After giving up on finding a welsh, I decided to find a horse that I could use as a resale project, and train until I found my dream horse and then sell it and buy the one I wanted. I looked for several months and then I found "Mojo"! This 2 year old filly had not had the best start in the world. She was completely unbroke, and had several problems in the looks and personality department. The lady that owned her wanted to have nothing to do with her, and it showed. While she wasn't what I would consider abused, she was definitely "unloved". For some reason and in some way I can't describe, this filly caught me completely off guard and I knew instantly that she was the one, even though she was far from what I was looking for. I called the owner that evening and offered her a price, she told me it wasn't as much as she wanted and she would think about it and see if anyone offered her more... I was devastated, but continued to hope for the best.

The next night the lady called me at work and said she would drop her off later in the week. When she came with Mojo, she said that for some reason, her heart was telling her that I was the "one" for this mare and would take care of her, and that maybe the money wasn't the most important thing. I never asked her what made her change her mind, but at that point, I simply didn't care. I had MY HORSE!

What started out as a resale project has grown to much, much more. I began a relationship with this mare and her training progressed wonderfully. When she was 4 and it was time to sell her, I advertised her in a few places and several people came to try her out. A couple even offered a fair price for her, but I declined every one of them. None of the people seemed right for her and I just wasn't comfortable imagining her life with any of them. Then after a few months, I realized, no one was going to be right for her, I simply couldn't bare to sell her. I renamed her "Allie" and she shows under the name Tainted Alliance, sort of symbolic for the struggle I was having with both, my parents (at the time) and the decision of whether to sell her or not.

Since that time, Allie has gone on to win many classes and highpoint awards in English and Western. I have also shown her showmanship and had many judges say I should have shown her in halter earlier in the day as well. Lisa, my younger sister, also used her to show the 4-H circuit as a 3-4 year old, as she was without a competitive mount while she trained her new young cob. She ended up winning Yearend Highpoint English Green Horse and Reserve Overall (she showed only english for the first 2 shows and missed 1 of the shows out of a total of 5 shows). Allie also has gone on several horse camping trips and was in training for one summer for endurance, and Trail Trials. And while I haven't shown in hunters/jumpers yet, Allie has easily cleared 2'6" and 3' jumps (my sister laughed and said we couldn't jump as high as her pony--she lost that bet)! All in all, not bad for training her all on my own, and neither of us have had ANY professional lessons since we've been a pair!

About a year ago I was thrown by my mom's 3 year old Cob gelding that I was starting under saddle for her (according to the previous owners he was well started under saddle and had kids riding him!)... I had a concussion, tore 90% of the ligaments in my ankle and developed a pressure cyst along my spine where I crashed into the fence (thankfully I didn't land flat on the fence or I would have broke my back)! After a few weeks of healing and wearing an ankle brace so I could walk without crutches, I was able to ride Allie bareback and never fear her doing anything to harm me. The stirrups forced me to turn my ankle and would hit my ankle if they were even present, so I couldn't ride with a saddle. My balance was off as I couldn't put ANY pressure on my leg and I couldn't even nudge her for her cues. I could only walk as it put too much pressure (ie. pain) on my injured leg to go any faster, but atleast I was back on a horse! Getting off was a challenge as it was my left leg, and so I had to get her to stand next to hay bales on my right side and simply lift myself up off her back using my good leg and lift the bad one completely over her back wihout hitting any part of my foot on her rump. I couldn't slide off and land on either leg due to the pressure it would put on muscles in either leg. My doctor was NOT happy when he found out I was back on a horse, but I convinced him that he couldn't keep me off, and I could deal with some pain, but not with having to stay off my horse's back! During my injury I was able to pay my sister to round pen and ride Allie during the week so she would atleast get some work, but after every ride my sister would ask when I would be back as it was obvious Allie wanted nothing to do with her. I am now back to 100% and will be taking Allie back out into the showring!

Throughout the years, many people have come to know Allie and me. I have been offered many training gigs and quite a large sum of money for her or a foal out of her (I have even been offered several FREE breedings with no foal back or any other strings attached). Luckily for me, they have all been easy to turn down...I am NOT a professional horse trainer, and this mare simply means too much for me to have it any other way.

In April of 2005 I made the difficult decision to breed Allie in hopes of achieving my second dream...Having a pair of wonderful horses to travel and show! Allie was bred to my parents' Welsh Cob Stallion to help me accomplish this dream. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be, and the foal died at or shortly after birth. Also Allie sustained a complete vaginal/rectal tear during the birthing process and while she is healing well, she will require 2-4 surgeries to repair the damage that was done. So our riding and "fun" schedule is touch and go at this point, but at some point we will once again be an unbeatable pair. And while the vet says that Allie can be bred and foal safely in the future, after all we have been through, I don't think either of our hearts could handle this, so for now she will stay empty.

Many of the pictures on this site are of Lisa (my younger sister) and Allie as I travel to most shows alone now. I can only get pictures when someone else is on her (and the last time someone else showed her was in 2001). I will try to get some of myself before too long.

There's lots more I could add to this page, the stories of our times together are almost endless...From our first group trail ride (Allie was only 3 and one of the best behaved of the 180 or so horses on the ride, I think the count was 6 offers to buy her that day and about 10 people asking for training), to the show where the judge tried to buy her in the middle of a class (and it was a very nice offer, but completely inappropriate)...

I hope the memories never stop!

So, this page is dedicated to you, MY FRIEND!

To watch Allie's home video, please click Here (Please note, this was my first REAL ride on Allie after my ankle injury-first time with a saddle-so we'd both been out of work for about 5 months)

A video of Allie cleaning Ren (my Rottweiler)

Allie 1 month after foaling
(sometimes I can't believe how quickly this mare can recover)

Back to Windrose Farm

Visit with Ren (the Rottweiler)