Selling Mayo

In early 2001 things were going really well, Baron was healing from his leg injury, my job was going well, and I was in a new relationship that a lot of promise.   But, how quickly things changed on me again.

One morning as I was getting ready for work the phone rang and it was the vet that I worked for.  She was telling me not to show up to work, that she was letting me go.   She claimed that business wasn't going well and that she had to let the last person she hired go, but that was a flat out lie, as she had hired at least 3 others after me.   I may be blind, but I am not stupid, I was being let go because of my eyesight.   I had it happen before, but that didn't make it any easier.   I was devistated, as I loved that job.   A friend of mine who worked with me, also believed I was the one she let go, because of my vision.   Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done, complaining to the EEOC usually gets you no where, the case in both times I've contacted them over workplace descrimination.

So, witht he loss of my job, I found myself living off of unemployment and everywhere I put in a resume, if they saw me, saw that I was blind, I never got a call.

I was quickly faced with a very hard decision, I could not afford three horses any longer.   I did a budget and figured I could afford two of them, but just not three.

I had Bunny, my first horse, an Anglo-Arabian mare, who was 18 years old at the time.  She had been abused, making her pretty much unrideable, plus she was so special to me, teaching me that it was horses I loved and not just riding, that I could not sell her.   I couldn't risk her going to a person that might misunderstand her behaviors and that might lead her to further abuse.   So, I know I was keeping her for the rest of her life.

Then there was Baron, my 2 year old Thoroughbred gelding, who from all he'd been through in his short life, was very small for his age and had a horrible scar on his front right leg, from the injury he'd suffered the previous fall.   From all he'd been through, I had grown very attached to him.   Though I may have bred his dam with the intentions of selling the foal, I could not bring myself to sell the little guy, he was also just too special to me.

So, that left Baron's dam, Mayo Lane, my 9 year old Thoroughbred mare.   She was the only rideable one of the group, but she was still quite green.   I had tried to work with her, but only being able to get to the boarding stable once every other week, it was very hard to progress her training.   I did my best, though and worked with her either in the round pen or int he small paddock, where I could ride her.

I started advertising her for sale.   She is a very muscular mare, built like a Quarter Horse, instead of a Thoroughbred.   I believe this is coming from two places, she is a granddaughter of Northern Baby, a son of Northern Dancer, who could pass on small and stocky to some lines, plus she is inbred 4 x 4 to Round Table.   For those who don't know what this means, it means she carries the horse Round Table in her 4th generation on both sides of her pedigree.   Her sire's sire, Northern Baby, is out of a mare by Round Table, and her 2nd dam (mother's mother), is sired by a stallion named Poker, who is by Round Table.   Round Table was an extremely good racehorse in the 1950's.   I loved studying Mayo's pedigree, so much history.

I advertised Mayo as a riding prospect, but also as a broodmare, due to her pedigree and the fact that Baron was a very nice young horse, despite his small size, which wasn't Mayo's fault, but Baron's circumstances.

I didn't get a lot of interest, but in April it seemed like everyone was starting to suddenly look for a new horse.

Quite a few wanted to ride her, so my boyfriend, tried to help me get out to the barn more often, so I could ride Mayo.  One day I was trying to ride her in one of the field's, where I had a single jump set up.  I couldn't use the round pen or small paddock or even the riding arena, as there were horses turned out in each of those areas, so I had no choice.   I really didn't think much about it.   Mayo could be strong and yes, she had run off with me, but that had been years before.   So, I lunged her, then got on, and we warmed up, she was doing just fine, listening, being really good, doing all I asked of her, so we started to jump.   She was doing really well with the lower jump, so I had my boyfriend, Gordon, set up the jump to about 2 feet.   We then cantered a circle and then headed towards the jump.  About a stride out, I felt something totally different underneath me, I felt her coiling up and preparing for an explosion.  I grabbed her mane, tightened up on the reins as best I could, but there was no time to stop her before the jump, so I had no choice but to just brace myself for what she was about to do.    She turned that 2 foot jump into about a 4 foot jump, catapolting us through the air.   As soon as she landed on the downside of the jump, she hit that ground running at full speed.   I put both hands on the left rein and pulled as hard as I could, as she had grabbed the bit in her teeth.   I put all I could into that one rein and tried to get her to circle.   Thankfully it worked, it took a few large and very high speed circles before I felt like I had some kind of control.   Slowly the circles got smaller and slower and finally I got her to stop.   I jumped off, my legs shaking, from the adrenalin that was flowing through my body. 

Gordon, who had only been riding for about 6 months, at the time, raced to me and hugged me, to make sure I was okay.   I was fine, of course, but I know seeing me being taken off with like that was hard on him.  Thankfully, that bolting incident didn't turn out like the first time she did that with me, but part of that was due to the fact that she wasn't bucking this time, as she bolted.

With that incident and our past, I knew she really needed to go to someone with a whole lot of experience or as a broodmare, she was just not going to be safe for even an intermediate rider, unless they had a whole lot of help.

As the calls and emails picked up, it was hard to tell who was the most serious, but I had two that I thought were serious at the same time.   One lived out west and the other just a few hours away.

The one from out west wanted her as a broodmare, the other people wanted her to ride and show.   Whent he people a few hours away heard that there was someone else who was serious, they rushed out a few days later.   It was a Saturday morning and it was a married couple.   The wife was extremely experienced and the husband was an intermediate, but a high one, I was told.   The wife rode Mayo first, then her husband.  They loved her and made me an offer.   Because she was going to be closer and I thought these people were telling the truth about their experience, and they seemed to be from what I was witnessing, I agreed to sell Mayo to them.   They came the next day to pick her up.

The lady from out west was really mad, but what could I do, I had this offer and she hadn't set up a vet check, yet, as she had said she wanted a reproduction exam done on Mayo before she'd buy her.

So, off Mayo went to her new home, the people promising to keep in touch and listen to the instructions that I had given about her quirks, one of which was, at the time, she could not be bridled and tied at the same time.   You could not just leave the halter hanging from her neck with the lead rope or cross ties attached to it, while bridling her, it upset her for some strange reason, but if you didn't have her tied and bridled her, she was fine.

Well, I get an email a few days later and they are already trying to ride her.  I had told them they should give her at least a week to settle in and get used to them, but this was the first sign that they were not going to follow instructions and listen to my experience with Mayo and just thought they knew more.   But, as she was now their horse, there was nothing I could do but just offer support and suggestions as issues arose, and they did quickly.

Instead of bolting, she started to freeze up and refuse to move.   Then I get a call, not 10 days after they had her home, that the guy had tried to bridle her in the cross ties and Mayo had flipped out.  She reared and since they used bunji cords as cross ties, she was able to spin around getting one bunji cord around her neck and the other up under the saddle.   Luckily, at this point Mayo's intellegence kicked in and she stood still for them to help her.   But at this point, the people already were done with her and wanted me to buy her back.   But since I was out of work, it was impossible.

I called the lady from out west to see if she was still interested in Mayo, as these people wanted her gone fast.  And to my surprise, this lady had already found another mare and bought it.   Like I said it was only about 10 days after the couple had bought Mayo.   The lady from out west had acted all put out and mad at me, but she must have had this other mare in mind, too, for her to have bought her so quickly after I told her Mayo was sold.

She told me she had a friend looking for a mare to breed to Warmbloods, and that she'd ask if the friend if Mayo would fit what she was looking for and if she wanted to buy Mayo from the couple.   And, so a few days later Mayo was on her way to Colorado.

Again, I was promised contact.  I loved Mayo and hated selling her, but just had no choice, so I hoped they'd keep in touch with me.   Unfortunately, the lady never got me in touch with her friend that actually bought Mayo.   So, I tried telling the lady about Mayo's quirks, history as a broodmare, etc, but not sure if things got passed along.

About 7 months later or so, I got an email that Mayo had aborted twins.   I innocently sent an email back asking if they had ultrasounded Mayo to check for twins, after breeding her, and I never heard another word from the woman.

I was sickened, I tried apologizing for any wrong dueing on my part and pleaded for updates, though I tried to not bother the lady, so I didn't send the requests very often, maybe once every few months, but that was about it.  I didn't want to bother them, I just wanted an update.   But all I got was stone silence and I finally had to come to grips with the fact that I had lost Mayo, not only through selling her, but that I no longer was going to hear anything about her. 

It hurt, but I had no choice but to try and forget about her.