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Blaze was born on May 30, 1999. It was a sunny morning and he was discovered up and running around already, a fuzzy orange colt with an irregular white star on his face. His mother, Autumns Golden Shadow was a friendly young mare, also born at Ride Easy Ranch. My daughter Alexandra was six years old, and was always out with the horses. She said the new colt was constantly running in and around the herd and then back to the safety of his mom. She wanted to name him Blaze of Lightening because he was always shooting in and out of the herd, and so he became Blaze. When he was three months old, his dam fell ill. The vet came out and wrote a prescription which we administered for a week. She seemed to be on the mend, but when I went out the next day I found her lying still. Little Blaze was standing by her side, not knowing why she wouldn’t get up. He finally left her, but he was so young that I started to give him milk supplements. Alexandra would help but laughed and laughed because I would end up ‘wearing it’ much of the time. He just wasn’t that interested in that fake milk! Then we saw our old mare Wind Drift (his grand dam) letting him suckle every now and then. She never really ever dried up completely and so he was given supplements, and every day Alexandra would go halter him and bring him in for his ‘extras’. She could go into the herd and lead him away without any balking. During all the years I raised walking horses, Alexandra watched and helped me do ground work, ride and train the other horses. She began riding other horses in pony club and around the farm, and by the time Blaze was ready to ride, at four years old, she was ready to start riding Blaze. He had a bit of spunk in him, and that suited Alexandra just fine! They were a natural fit, and soon she was, as many young riders do, galloping everywhere she went. In 2008 she and Blaze achieved the Gold in the Program For Excellence with him. Many miles were ridden, and Alexandra also received recognition for the most hours for Junior Riders in the Ride/Drive Program. I never had to worry about her on Blaze. When it was his first time out in the mountains, he took everything in stride. He didn’t know he was just a little 14.3 hh horse – he thought he was a big horse! Through the water, over the logs, and up the mountains, he was an honest horse with a whole lot of heart. Alexandra rode him at Spruce Meadows, took him to 4-H demonstrations, and enjoyed many hours with him. We went swimming in the local lake on hot days, and Alexandra was given instruction (Not by her mom!) to hang on to his tail and surf behind him… and they did it. Blaze loved the water, and didn’t mind one bit. Alexandra would put guinea pigs on him, cats, the dog, and I’m not sure if a chicken ever went for a ride on him, but he just went along with anything she asked. I have a picture of myself sitting on a chair with his hind foot resting on my lap while I rasped it. He was just one of those Excellent horses! Many years of companionship went by, and he never tried to buck her off or do anything undesirable. I was always confident that he would never hurt her, give her any bad advice or tell her any lies. A trustworthy, awesome horse he was. It was a sad day when he was found deceased on August 22, 2017. He will be forever remembered and always have a place in our hearts.
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