Let's take a break from Truby's Origin story. Last week, Winter Storm Jonas hit the east coast in a rather dramatic way. The little corner of Pennsylvania I'm in got almost two feet of snow, which was super exciting! I actually like snow, and think having a blizzard once in awhile is fun, instead of a personal affront to my entire life.

Hiked out to the main road. Not much going on.

Despite the shoveling and digging out my husband and I did, the community I live in did much less, and there was no way I was going anyway for a for days. Luckily, one of my barnmates was dug out, and eager to try out the 4 wheel drive on her new truck. So Monday, with the sun shining and 2 feet of shining snow, El and I headed to the barn!

Hello! I'm Truby!

Truby and Florida enjoying the view.

El and I turned out our horses, hoping to see them frolic and play. Unfortunately for us, the barn owner had been able to turn out the horses a couple times already, and Truby and Florida were all out of frolics. So, we turned out the rest of the barn to let everyone have some fun. And it led to this cute story that actually happened. 

Hey guys. Are you stuck?

Um. We can't figure out how to get back to the barn.
Send help? Carry us? Cookies?

Here comes Truby to save the day!

Gratuitous Truby butt

Truby and her side kick Simba go to help the trapped duo

Mans...I don't actually like you guys :(

But I'll help you anyway. I guess.

Follow meeeeee!

The barn is this way!

hahaha, forget you guys

Barn, ho! Florida heads for home.

Wally brings up the rear

 and the ground shakes beneath him.

Truby plays some Peek A Boo while waiting for

El and I to trudge up to the barn.

Now that her friends are rescued, Truby can relax
and munch some hay. 

Origins Part 2

Having sent in a deposit check, it was time to head back to West Virginia, and find a place to keep my new horse. I don't remember if there were no boarding barns in the area, or if they were too expensive, but I decided that the only way to find a barn was to just drive around and knock on doors.

4 day old Truby

Being extremely shy and awkward around new people, this method of barn shopping was pretty stressful. The first place I stopped was less than a mile from the school. It had well maintained buildings, and a nice little pasture. It seemed like it would be perfect. But there was no one home. So I continued to the next place, a few more miles down the road. It seemed like it could be a nice place...or not. Buildings looked nice, but they were in the middle of what looked like a once-a-month stall cleaning. They had a small herd of Palomino Quarter Horses that were surprisingly clean and healthy. They didn't want boarders, but suggested a place a few more miles up the road. That place was sketchy as all get out, so I just turned around and headed back to barn #1. I remember the Palomino people staring at me as I drove past, obviously noting that I didn't stop at their friends barn. Social anxiety, GO! 

Truby's sire, DNA as a 2 year old

This time, at barn #1,  there were people home! They were friendly, and didn't seem at all annoyed that some random 17 year old kid was knocking on their door and asking to board a horse. They showed me around, there was a nice 3 stall barn that opened to a little paddock, and a larger pasture next to that. Beyond that was a creek and then a steep hillside, where their 2 retired 4H ponies lived. We quickly reached an agreement: I could keep Truby there, have use of the barn and pasture. I was responsible for her care, and they would not do anything to care for her. I could use the old sawdust shavings stored there, but would have to provide all feed and bedding after that ran out. 

Truby's dam, DNA's Tru Lea Treasure
(No relation to DNA)

I had purchased a horse. I now had a place to keep her. I found a horse hauler. Everything was moving along smoothly. In a week or so, my new little horse would be delivered! 

Origins - Part 1

Starting a story in the middle isn't always the best way to start a story, so let's go back to the very beginning.

In the beginning, as far as I know, the world was spun out of the nameless void by Aleph, who gave everything a name....

I see you laugh, Very well, for simplicity's sake, let us assume that I am the center of all creation...Let us hurry forward to the only tale of real importance.

Truby's

That, of course, is borrowed (and slightly edited) from The Name of the Wind. If you haven't read the King Killer Chronicles yet, stop whatever you're doing (including reading this post) and acquire a copy of it immediately.

The Tale of Truby doesn't begin before the creation of the known universe, but it does feel like a lifetime ago. Back when I was young, kinda dumb, unhappy, confused, and lost. I was also attending Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. If you've gone to the school, or have heard stories, you may begin to understand where I was mentally, in addition to physically. (Don't ask, West Virginia)

I had taken the summer off after taking a bad fall that left me with injuries that weren't realized (or treated) for many years to come. I was bored, and decided that when I went back, it would be awesome to have a horse of my own to train. At school, horses are shared, and it seemed like once a student had begun to make progress and really GET somewhere, they were switched to a new horse. Or that it was hard to accomplish anything, because you might be sharing a horse with someone else. How great it would be to have my own project! I couldn't be assigned off my own horse, or have to share it with anyone else! Then, when I left school, I could sell it. Just buying a short term project for fun.

Also. Lonely. Teenager. Confused. Dumb.

So I began looking at horses on the internet. Way back in the day when the internet wasn't super common. If you wanted a picture of something for sale, you most likely were going to have to trade addresses and wait a week for physical pictures to arrive in the mail. Back before Dreamhorse.com and Facebook. It was a weird time.

My criteria wasn't much. I really wanted a yearling or 2 year old. Probably a Quarter Horse or Paint. No Impressive bloodlines. Cheap. Cheap was important. That was about it. And after awhile, I came across some horses for sale in Wisconsin. I was super interested in a pregnant mare (whooo, babies!) and a weanling seemed interesting as well. But then I saw a picture of the weanling, and I fell in love. I couldn't get her out of my mind. The owner was willing to sell her sight unseen and ship her across the county, no problem, whatever. So I mailed a $100 deposit check, and began to make plans for my new horse...

The photo that changed my life

Welcome!

Welcome to Truby Tales! After years of following so many wonderful horse blogs, I finally decided to start my own. 

Meet Truby

\My plan is to do a full year of Truby-blogging, at least one update a week. It should be fun to see where this year takes us! Come join us on our journey. It might be interesting, it might not. But it will be filled with pictures of an adorable little grey horse, and you can't go wrong with that!