Arena Tracks by Penny Schlagel: Blue

There are horses in the world that have an almost magical existence.  We know them by their barn names: Missy, Louie, Scamper.  We also have the local legends that bring to mind great runs and an even greater presence in our memories because we KNEW them.  One of those horses in my life was a little gray mare named Blue.  

Blue was born Sheza Lucky Charm and started her path to domination in the Mitchell, South Dakota, pasture of Gary and Karen Krantz, the owners of her sire, Dark Turf.  Ron and LuEva Halweg bought her for their daughter Corey to show in the AQHA Showmanship classes.  Blue, while beautiful and perfectly proportioned, was NOT having it.  She’d paw, pin her ears, ring her tail and just when the judge passed, might throw in a half-hearted cow kick.  Her demeanor didn’t improve much out of the show ring, but the little mare had something about her that Ron couldn’t give up on.  He decided she just needed a job so sent her off to John Baltezore for training in heading and heeling.  Blue was a NATURAL and had soon earned her ROM on both ends of the steer, but her behavior?  Still questionable.

At this point in Blue’s story, one of John’s good friends and team roping partner, Dan Olson, fell in love.  He saw Blue and told his not-yet-a-cowgirl wife, Marda, that he had bought her the most beautiful horse she would ever see. Marda, always the optimist, jogged on out to the stall barn to meet this mythical creature, only to be met with Blue, lunging from the back of the stall, teeth bared.  Marda might not have been the cowgirl she is today, but she wasn’t a sucker.  She knew what this was: this was a rope horse. And a grumpy one at that.

Blue was at the Olsons to stay and even if Marda gave her a wide berth, she loved Dan and supported his purchase. Then, one evening while roping, Dan’s rope broke. The end popped back and struck Blue’s front leg.  A trip to The University of Iowa in Ames ended with a diagnosis of a bone chip in her knee.  The treatment was an expensive surgery the young family couldn’t really afford as well as six weeks of stall rest followed by six weeks of walking.  Blue wasn’t much for the stalling and Marda knew that while Dan was a lovely man with a big heart, he wasn’t going to spend six weeks WALKING that horse.  Determined to get her healed up and SOLD, Marda took to walking Blue every day.

Marda’s friend Cindy Baltezore suggested that if she was going to walk Blue every day, she might as well accomplish something by walking her around the barrels.  The two friends got out some tires and set up the course so Marda could keep Blue perfectly positioned every trip through. Then they walked. And walked.  And walked.  Six weeks later, Cindy stopped by to see how things were going.  Marda proudly showed her how they could walk the barrels.  When Cindy asked her to go faster Marda explained couldn’t because she had to walk for SIX WEEKS.  Those six weeks of walking accomplished a couple of things:  Blue was beyond patterned and Blue was beyond devoted to Marda.

As a natural athlete, Blue picked up speed quickly, sometimes taking Marda for the ride of her life.  Marda recalls hearing her hair go “thump, thump, thump” against the fence in Kennebec as well as not always staying in the middle of the saddle.  Blue, to her credit, wouldn’t run off, but come back and find Marda, waiting patiently for her to get back in the stirrups. The pair had many adventures; rodeo wins, travels with friends, several Badlands Circuit Finals qualifications and even the Dodge National Circuit Finals where Marda competed while pregnant with daughter Whitney.  Blue was a contributing member of the Olson household, paying off her own vet bill and helping to pay the fees when Danny and Marda’s boys, Jordan and Logan, started team roping.  Turns out that was a good investment as the “boys”, now grown men with their own families, later would team up to qualify for The American Rodeo.  Logan also went on to qualify for the NFR and both continue to team rope competitively.  All in all, it became apparent that Blue and Marda were a pair.  Danny Olson was a smart man and he loved his wife.  He never asked to rope off of Blue again.

As I’ve said a million times, horses and dogs don’t live nearly long enough and as the folks that love and care for them, we are called on to serve them as they have served us.  During an especially rough winter, Blue, older and less agile, slipped and went down on the ice. Danny was gone trucking and Marda was home alone, frantically trying to get her old friend up from the frozen ground.  Her pulling didn’t work and even the tractor was futile.  Finally, with all options exhausted, Marda sat down in the slush and held Blue’s head in her lap, stroking her face and thanking her for all she had given her. Blue had changed her life, had MADE her life; she had rescued her from being relegated to chute help and made her a cowgirl. For all of it, Marda thanked her.  With that, on a cold winter day, with her head in Marda’s lap, the ornery little gray mare let go, trotting off into the green pastures of heaven.

What horses give us isn’t something that can be measured.  It can’t even really be described.  It can only be felt and even then, only felt by those of us who truly love horses. Marda Olson truly loves horses. Blue made sure of that.