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\n\t\t<\/div>\nToo much sun made Anne feel dizzy and eating oranges made her sick. So, she wasn\u2019t disappointed when her parents decided to move from Florida to NJ and on to Ulster, PA in 1975. Her parents bought a pony from Bob Cole; a one year old Arab\/Shetland filly. She and her sister, Mary, trained Sassy to ride and pull a cart. When the snowflakes began falling, they dragged a downhill sled from the shed, tied a long rope to it, saddled up the pony and took turns giving each other rides through the snow.<\/p>\nNot much time passed before Mary bought Goldie an eight year old, Tennessee Walker\/Quarter Horse mix, and the sisters joined a 4-H club run by Sweets Paso Fino Farms in Milltown, PA. One summer day, Mary rode Goldie across a creek headed for the Sweet\u2019s farm. Crossing the creek, Goldie stepped on a dead tree limb and a branch stabbed the horse on the inside, upper leg. The wound never completely healed and oozed puss. The local vet could never find anything wrong with the leg, so Goldie made a trip to Cornell for x-rays. The x-rays showed a 6 inch splinter imbedded in the horse\u2019s leg, which the Cornell vet extracted, put in a formaldehyde filled jar and handed to Mary as a souvenir.<\/p>\n
The sisters brought Sassy and Goldie to local parades, mock horse shows, barrel races and other events put on by the Sweets until the 4-H club disbanded in 1981. Anne still rode everywhere; into town, through the woods, along roads. She rode Sassy alone or with other riders. Newspaper photographers saw her and took her picture. Everyone in town knew Anne and her horse.<\/p>\n
A couple of years later, Mary packed her bags and left for college. Anne outgrew Sassy and sold the pony. She bought a 6 month old foal; a Mustang\/Quarter Horse cross named Brandy. The young colt didn\u2019t stop Anne from riding; other people let her ride their horses. Brandy grew to 14 hands, and Anne trained him to carry a saddle. By then, Anne graduated from high school and it was her turn to head out of town to college.<\/p>\n
Mary sold Goldie; however, Anne retained ownership of Brandy. She needed a place to pasture the horse, so Brandy traveled to Bob Cole’s cow pasture in Canton, PA from Joe Conrad’s farm in Litchfield. The day of Brandy\u2019s move, Anne waited for Bob to pick up the horse. She expected to see a horse trailer; instead he arrived in a Ford pick-up used to haul livestock. The truck supported a wire cage strapped over the truck bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere\u2019s the trailer?\u201d asked Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is it,\u201d said Bob.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be kidding!\u201d said Anne looking at the homemade wire contraption suspended above the truck bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry, just climb in,\u201d replied Bob pulling down the tailgate.<\/p>\n
Anne crawled onto the truck bed, squatted next to the horse, braced her back against the cab and tightly held Brandy’s lead rope. The horse stood quietly as the truck engine roared. Slowly, the vehicle bumped along the gravel road headed for Cotton Hollow Road. Anne looked through the wire mesh as the open countryside flew by during the scary 2 hour trip from Litchfield to Canton, PA. Upon arrival, Brandy calmly stepped from the truck and joined the cows in a large pasture.<\/p>\n
Anne attended Harcum College in Bryn Mawr, PA located 20 miles outside of Philly, and majored in Equine Breeding and Management. In her first year, she learned about English equitation and showmanship at the Phelps Riding Academies in West Chester County, PA. The academy taught riding to troubled boys and hosted lessons for Harcum students in basic English riding and jumping. Anne rode two horses owned by Phelps, Joy and Daddies\u2019 Best, at Hunter Jump Shows. The course included a fieldtrip to the National Horse Show held in Madison Square Garden, NYC where the students saw top show horses perform including William Shatner\u2019s 5 gaited American Saddlebred.<\/p>\n
Summer came and Anne landed a job as an assistant horse counselor at Hidden Valley 4-H Camp in Watkins Glen. Her horse, Brandy, became part of the 4-H Horse Program too. On beautiful summer days, the young campers walked from the bunk houses to the Hidden Valley barns, and Anne taught the kids basic horsemanship. The Onondaga County Sheriffs stabled their horses in the 4-H barns too. The sheriffs patroled the crowds during the sports car races in Watkins Glen. At the end of camp, Anne again needed a place to stable Brandy. Kenny, one of the sheriffs volunteered to keep the horse at his place near Darien Lake until Anne finished school.<\/p>\n
In her second year at Harcum, Anne attended a practicum at Wonderland Farms in West Chester PA; a breeding farm for Trakehner horses. She enrolled in the winter session with 7 other students and lived at the farm. The student\u2019s responsibilities included feeding, turn out, cleaning stalls, attending classes, riding lessons, and late night check on the horses. During the course, Anne came down with pneumonia and returned home. A few weeks later, Anne returned to Wonderland Farms and continued the course until June. Most of the mares had already dropped their foals, but she witnessed a couple births. Show season began in May, and the students groomed the show horses, learned showmanship, and watched the Wonderland Farm\u2019s stallion compete.<\/p>\n
Anne\u2019s college experience came to an end and she returned to the Valley. Brandy arrived back from Kenny\u2019s place and found a home at Rosh\u2019s Stables. Donna Horton stabled her two horses, Ember and Lady, there too; however, the two women did not know each other well and never rode together. In 1996, the hard cold facts of finance raised its ugly head, and Anne sold Brandy to buy a car.<\/p>\n
Years passed, Anne married and had children, but always wanted to return to horseback riding. In 2002, she opened the morning paper to the classified section and under the livestock heading read an ad describing an Arabian stallion in Gillette, PA for $800. Anne dialed the number, the phone rang a few times and a man answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cI read your ad for the Arab stallion. Is he still for sale?\u201d asked Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, he\u2019s sold but I have a lot of other horses if you\u2019d want to come down and have a look,\u201d replied James Cain.<\/p>\n
Anne and her young son John traveled the long winding road to Gillette where she met Mr. Cain and his horses. They walked into the pasture and looked over several horses and ponies. One young black horse caught her eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat can you tell me about that horse,\u201d asked Anne pointing to a thin, black horse standing at a distance from the herd. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a 2 year old Thoroughbred gelding without papers, but I have his Coggins test from the vet. He stands about 14.3 hands high,\u201d replied Mr. Cain hesitating for a moment, giving Anne a chance to think about the horse. \u201cIf you don\u2019t see a horse you like, don\u2019t worry. I go to the Unadilla Livestock auction once a month. I\u2019ll take this batch back in a few days and get new ones.\u201d <\/p>\n
Anne bought the young Thoroughbred, built a stall and put the horse in the pasture behind their house on Talmadge Hill Road a few miles north of Waverly. The calm young horse allowed her children to sit on him. She named him Shadow, after all, he was black except for a small white mark just above his left front leg. Anne called the auction house where Mr. Cain purchased Shadow trying to find out his parentage but came to dead-end. The Unadilla auction house\u2019s strict policy of not divulging names of sellers prevented her from finding the horse\u2019s former owner.<\/p>\n
Anne’s vet, Robin, came over to look at the animal a few months later. By then, one of his testicles had dropped and he didn\u2019t look like any gelding Anne had ever seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I can tell you he\u2019s younger than 2, probably more like a yearling and he is definitely not a gelding,\u201d said the vet running her hand over Shadow\u2019s shoulder and down his leg. \u201cThe white mark on his shoulder and the scar between his knee and fetlock look like he was injured from sliding on his side.\u201d<\/p>\n
The vet gelded Shadow in May 2003, but the horse continued to grow and grow until he finally reached 16 hands. His color changed too; from black to brown, and then his face and tail turned grey until he became a beautiful grey with a heart shaped dapple on his rump.<\/p>\n
One morning the sun flooded the hills with sunbeams as Anne\u2019s three children ate breakfast, gathered their books and left for school. Anne stood at the kitchen window overlooking the pasture watching Shadow. She spotted a coyote running nervously back and forth the length of the fence not far from her horse.<\/p>\n
Anne ran outside and shouted, \u201cGet out of here!\u201d She picked up a rock and threw it the coyote, but the coyote didn\u2019t move, it just looked at her without fear. She ran into the pasture, towards the wild animal. The coyote ran a few paces away, stopped, looked back at her and calmly walked away. Anne saw the coyote three or four mornings after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not afraid of humans,\u201d Anne told her husband John.<\/p>\n
\u201cCome on Anne. It\u2019s not a coyote – just a stray dog,\u201d replied John.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure its stalking Shadow,\u201d said Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019re imagining things,\u201d replied John.<\/p>\n
A few days later, John came home from work to retrieve a tool he had forgotten and there sat the coyote in the pasture. Again the coyote didn’t run away. The wild animal simply stared at Anne and John as they watched the sly creature.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know someone at work with a shot gun. I\u2019ll ask him to stop by tomorrow,\u201d said John climbing into his pick-up truck and returning to work.<\/p>\n
John\u2019s friend came with the gun. The two men walked out to the field looking for the coyote but couldn’t find the animal. They circled through the woods and walked back along the fence line, but the coyote was gone and never returned.<\/p>\n
A couple of years later, in 2007, the farmer next to Anne\u2019s place mowed paths through his field, leaving the grass high. One morning, after feeding Shadow, Anne stood in the pasture and looked across to her neighbor\u2019s grassy fields. A reddish colored coyote, his nose sniffing the ground as he ran, hunted field mice on the mowed paths. She picked up a rock and threw it at the animal trying to scare it off. The coyote walked to a small hill, sat down and looked at her until finally walking away. Neighbors saw the coyote a few times. The animal hung around an empty trailer for a couple of hours, and then the creature disappeared into the back fields.<\/p>\n
A few more years passed, Anne raised her children, worked for local stables, trained unruly horses, and helped people buy horses. At the same time she trained and rode Shadow. Everyone knew Anne; the horsewoman. In 2009, Anne and her husband bought a house in town. Shadow needed a place to stay, and moved to Ballentine\u2019s Horse Heaven. <\/p>\n
Connie knew Anne well. She had trained CJ to saddle in 2007 and helped her purchase several horses. When I showed up in the fall of 2009, Connie asked Anne to help me get acquainted with Pepper. Anne and I rode together that fall, up to the park or down dusty gravel roads near the stable until winter came, and then she quit riding for the season. <\/p>\n
Finally, the spring sun shone over the park, warming the dormant roots resting deep in the soil. The tree buds burst open filling branches with leaves which waved in a breeze above the trail. Spring turned into summer. Anne and I decided to take a long ride to the State Game Lands \u2013 Number 239.<\/p>\n
We crisscrossed roads turning onto Reagan Road near Round Top Stables (formally Rosh’s Stables), crossed Wolcott Hollow Road and picked up Chamberlain Road, a gravel lane near the game lands. The horses walked past a lone house where 2 brothers jumped on a big trampoline. A black lab bounded towards the horses and one of the boys stopped playing to grab the dog by the collar. On the hill behind where the children played stood the back of a large barn with cows grazing nearby.<\/p>\n
The horses walked down the lane. Chamberlain Road turned at a gully near the cow pasture and led up a steep hill. Anne started up the hill at a fast gallop and I tried to keep up. Shadow, tall and sleek with his long stride pulled several horse lengths ahead. As Anne raced up the hill she saw an animal which she thought was a deer bounding up the wooded rise alongside the road. Anne thought, \u2018A deer is going to cross the road just ahead of us.\u2019 The wild animal nimbly scaled the steep slope, and Anne watched it come closer and closer. Suddenly she realized the creature wasn\u2019t a deer but a full grown mountain lion. The mountain lion leapt onto the roadbed a few yards ahead of Anne, sauntered halfway across the dirt road and froze. Anne stopped Shadow, slowly turned around and headed back down the road. <\/p>\n
\u201cCan you tell me what that looks like to you?\u201d said Anne stopping in front of Pepper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat? Where?\u201d I said riding closer.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight there, next to the ditch, near the bush at the bottom of that small ridge,\u201d Anne said pointing at the edge of the road several yards ahead.<\/p>\n
I looked where Anne pointed and saw a large animal with a long catlike tail, slightly curled at the tip.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like a mountain lion,\u201d I said staring at the animal in the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat’s what I thought. What do you want to do? I don\u2019t feel comfortable riding past it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy don\u2019t we just turn around and go back the way we came,\u201d I replied still watching the motionless animal at the edge of the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we better. The last thing I want is for Shadow to get hurt,\u201d replied Anne watching the mountain lion.<\/p>\n
Still, we sat on our horses in the road watching the big cat. The horses stood quietly and the mountain lion didn\u2019t move an inch. The roadway had been cut into the hillside leaving a small ridge just over our heads, perfect for the mountain lion to jump down on us. Finally, the mountain lion slinked into the bushes near the road and disappeared. We turned our horses and walked down the road, glancing back to see if the lion followed us.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would never have believed it if I hadn\u2019t seen it with my own eyes,\u201d said Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know. Mountain lions aren\u2019t supposed to be in this area,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know Connie said she saw one not far from here up on the road,\u201d said Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s right. She said it ran right in front of her car when she was on her way to church. She almost hit it,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey say mountain lions can stalk you for miles without you knowing it,\u201d said Anne.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a little unnerving,\u201d I replied.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarilyn said she saw one a couple of years ago, crossing the road up at Round Top Park,\u201d said Anne.<\/p>\n
I watched the woods looking for any sign of movement; nothing moved. The horses walked, the sun shone and the birds sang. We reached the stables, unsaddled and turned the horses out to pasture without seeing anymore wildlife other than a few turkeys in a field.<\/p>\n
Another year passed filled with riding, life, work and family. Neither one of us ever saw the mountain lion again. A few weeks ago, I visited with Anne. We talked horses, looked through her photo album, and I gathered information for this blog. Shadow and Anne are still at Ballentine\u2019s Horse Heaven and ride the trails in Round Top Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Too much sun made Anne feel dizzy and eating oranges made her sick. So, she wasn\u2019t disappointed when her parents decided to move from Florida to NJ and on to Ulster, PA in 1975. Her parents bought a pony from … Continue reading
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