Equus – August 2019

108 EqUUS 498 AUTUMN 2019

EQ CASEREPORT

the knees from a lifetime of climbing

steep hills on the range, so Andrea rode

Breezy more and more.

Breezy became a good cow horse,

taking Snickers’ place as Andrea’s

main mount. The little mare was fun

to ride because she liked to “go” and

had a tremendous trot. She was some-

times clumsy, but if she was trotting

she could really fly and she picked her

feet up nicely. Plus she was always

sure-footed dashing down hills after

wayward cows.

On July 4, 2000, Andrea rode Breezy

to round up five cows and their bull

calves off the range. It was a wild chase

because the cattle didn’t want to come

down out of the mountains. But our cow

horses did the job and we brought the

How Breezy beat cancer

W

e’ve always had work-

ing horses on our

family ranch. We use

them to move, gather

and sort cattle in pastures and out

on the range. So in 1996, when we

were short on a horse, we moved

quickly to find a replacement---a

work mount for my daughter Andrea’s

husband, Jim.

Our search took us to a nearby

ranch, where we were shown Carmen

Willow Breeze, a 5-year-old Morgan

mare. Breezy, as we came to call her,

had been started under saddle but

was still very green. She seemed a bit

high-strung but eager to work, so we

decided to buy her.

That first summer, Jim rode Breezy

After seeing a

family through trying

times, a ranch

mare developed a

life-threatening illness.

But her owners were

determined to

help her recover.

By Heather Smith Thomas

HALCYON DAYS:

Years before her

accident, Andrea

rides the range

on her favorite

mount, Breezy.

a few times, but not as much as
Andrea, who traded off between
Breezy and her Arabian/Thoroughbred
cow horse, Snickers. Over the next
PH few years, Snickers became stiff in

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