Meet Mazikeen, aka Maizy!

Many years ago when we rehomed our horse Nik, we knew that one day we would like to own a horse again. Nik was just too much of a horse for us. Too big, too firey, too everything. I didn't feel safe having the kids around him. If you don't feel safe and comfortable with your own horse, it takes all the  joy out of owning one. It was absolutely the right decision to rehome him, but it left a horse size hole in our hearts. 

Even though owning Nik wasn't the ideal experience, it did teach me a lot. I learned what I didn't want in a horse and exactly what I did want. I developed a strict list of criteria for our future horse, whenever that might be.

Years had gone by with our barn standing empty. Life is busy. It never seemed like the right time. And that was alright. 

I don't know what it was about 2020, but I just got this itch to start looking for a horse. Molly and I started saving money and searching. Little by little I would hide my dollars away and scour Dreamhorse.com (along with other sites) for hours, plugging in our list of criteria in the search engines and seeing what was available. 

Not much in our price range that fit our criteria, that's for sure. I definitely learned a lot about the current horse market through this process. The horses I did see that fit our criteria I wrote to, but wouldn't you know it, people weren't very keen to write back. I'm not sure if the horses had already sold and they were too lazy to write back and say that and take the post down, or if they just didn't like what I had to say and didn't want to take the time of day to tell me no. Whatever the case, I wrote to no less than 20 people over the course of a few months and only heard back from four. Three were people telling me the horses had sold (and they didn't take the post down....dumb!), and 1 that actually was still available. That correspondence didn't go well though. I made the mistake of asking to barter on the price and then the lady ghosted me. Oh well. Not the type of person I wanted to do business with anyway. 

Since I wasn't having much luck writing to people based off their horse posts, I decided to take a different approach and make my own ISO ad on Dreamhorse.com. This gave me the chance to lay it all out and say exactly what I was looking for and what my price range was right off the bat. Then I waited.

About a month ago a lady named Kim text me about a horse she thought would be a perfect fit for us. She was an 8yo 13.2 hand paint named Daizy in Benton City, WA. She was said to be a chill, non-spooky, horse perfect for family life and trail riding. Exactly what we were looking for. She was only being sold because Kim's daughter was in need of a horse with a longer stride to do barrels. We were so excited!! After talking with Kim and getting all the details on Daizy, we decided we liked what we heard and wanted to take the next step and go see her. So that's what Sam, Molly, and I did! 

Daizy was the cutest little horse there ever was! She met a lot of our criteria, size and age being two important factors, but also her temperament. She stood so quietly while Molly brushed her. And she listened incredibly well when she was lunged, ridden by the owner's daughter, and then when Molly got on to do a test ride. She certainly was shaping up to be exactly what we were looking for. 

We decided we loved Daizy and wanted to pursue her. The next step was to schedule a vet check for her, to make sure she was cleared health wise. We let Kim get that scheduled and squared away while Molly and I worked on cleaning the barn, stall, back pasture, and found someone that had hay for sale in the middle of winter. 

Daizy passed her vet check with flying colors, as we knew she would. Since I couldn't be there for the exam, I talked with the vet via phone and payed him promptly after the exam. With the vet check completed, payment details worked out, and Christmas behind us, it was time to seal the deal and welcome Daizy to her new home! We decided, since we had a Daisy for a dog, that we would rename Daizy to Mazikeen, making it Maizy for short. We welcomed Maizy home on December 27th. Everyone was so excited!! For an extra $100 to cover their gas and time, Kim and her family made the trip to deliver her to us. It was so sweet, Kim's daughter made Molly a plaque with Maizy's photo and name on it to hang in the barn. She also braided Maizy's mane and tail and put ribbons in, lol. She was just the cutest little horse! 

Deliver went very smooth. I expected Maizy to be anxious and antsy, but she was actually the opposite. she was calm and relaxed and went right to eating once we got her in the round pin like she didn't have a care in the world. After saying our goodbyes and thank yous to the original owners, Molly and I spent some time with Maizy brushing her and just being present. I was thankful that Grandma and Grandpa Whitten could be there with us while Maizy was delivered, Grandpa got a lot of great photos for us! 

It's been a week now and Maizy has settled in nicely. There were a few days after day one where she was a bit antsy, running the pasture, I'm sure because she finally realized she is here for good, but other than that she has continued to be mostly chill. There is always going to be a settling in period anyway. I'm sure it's been a bit tough on her, going from being in a pasture with many horses to being the only horse. And it's going to take a while for her to get to know us and trust us. But Molly and I, along with the boys, spend quite a bit of time with her throughout the day. Sometimes we go down to brush her, other times to lead her around and lunge her, and still other times just to say hi and sit with her. I do think she is settling in just fine and has already taken a shine to us, especially Molly and myself. 

We are taking things nice and slow. We haven't saddled her yet, but we have gotten in a lot of practice with catching, haltering, and general ground work. We also like to sit on her back and led each other around too. We are mostly focusing on ground work right now, and she is a superb listener. Whatever training she got in the past must have been excellent.  Of course, she will test you to see what she can get away with, if you aren't acting confident in your requests, but all horses do that as they try to figure out who's the boss around here and if they can trust you. So far things are going exceptionally well and Maizy is a pleasure to do ground work with. Next step will be to practice bridling and saddling her. Molly has a saddle gifted to us by our neighbor that will fit her, but I am still on the hunt for a saddle that will fit me. In the mean time I did purchase a bareback pad that will be amazing to use. We are excited to continue our work with her! We've been having so much fun and it's been so nice to have a horse in our family again! 

 

I am incredibly thankful to those that have helped make this dream of ours come true. We have gotten a lot of support from family and friends. I honestly wouldn't have been able to make this happen without them. From financial support, to loads of horse advice, I am grateful to those that have been helpful and excited for us through this process and to those that continue to offer support and advice as we get to know and bond with Maizy! 

We look forward to building a wonderful relationship with Maizy and many, many years filled with horsey fun! Molly and I are just over the moon to have a horse back in our lives!! 

With love,

Mama Hauck