MECURCHIO

Last winter I posted about my friend, Blaine Albertson, passing away. He was a country man, the family owned horses, and Blaine loved to ride. With his passing, the family had to make some hard choices. One of the hardest choices that they had to make (I believe) was to sell the horses. The family didn't want Blaine's horse to go to just anyone. They wanted to make sure the horse had a good home where he would be rode and be well taken care of. So, they decided to give the horse to me.

The family and I talked back and forth all winter about the horse. Because of the bad winter and the shortage of hay everyone was experiencing, I was not able to pick up the horse. I didn't have the extra hay for another horse, nor would I be able to get a horse trailer into their yard. After a month or two, I stopped hearing from the family. This spring, I called and left a message about the horse. I thought they may have decided to keep him or found a different home for him. About a month passed and I received a phone call from Blaine's widow, Theresa. They still had the horse and still wanted me to have him. Only stipulation was that the horse had to be picked up by September. The day after Theresa called me, I went to pick up the horse.

I got to their farm and all the horses were standing in the yard. Blaine's horse definitely stuck out from the rest. The horse's name is Mecurchio (we call him Mack for short) and he is a big sorrel gelding with a white blaze and three unbelievable white socks. When we walked up to the fence, Mack came right up and begged for attention by following us around and nudging us with his nose to be pet. I brought my saddle and bridle along to ride him quickly before loading him in the trailer so I knew what to expect when I got him home. He was slow, didn't like to lope too much, and if you were lucky enough to get him into a lope he would kick back with his right hind leg going into the lope, but for me that was okay. I knew he was too lazy to run away with the girls if they wanted to ride him, and the kick back was only from a lack of being ridden.

Mack has been here at my place now for almost 2 weeks. He has become buddies with my mother's black and white blanket appaloosa, he is fed oats twice a day, and is ridden for a minimum of two hours ever day. I am happy to say that he easily goes into a lope now and does not kick back anymore. One of his favorite treats are apples so he gets many apples a day from the girls. I am very impressed with Mack. He has been a great addition to our herd. He is a complete love without a mean bone in his body. He is wonderful with the girls. He lets them pull on his mane, hang from his neck, and they run around and pat him all over his body and he doesn't shy or move away from them. In fact, he follows them around the pasture for more attention.

I am very grateful to the Albertson family for giving me this bitter-sweet gift. Mack is getting back into shape and turning out to be a great riding horse. He is also a constant reminder of Blaine and his love for horses. I sometimes wonder if Blaine looks down on me from time-to-time when I ride Mack,..........if he does, I hope I make him proud.