People often ask me about my profile picture. Things like “is that your daughter?” or “why such an old picture?’ and such. Well here’s the story behind that picture.
That is a picture of me when I was 2 and a half years old on my pony Prince who was given to me at birth. Prince was 10 at the time. Little did anyone know what that gift would lead to.
You see, Prince is my inspiration. He was my teacher and friend. Prince taught me more than any book or teacher ever could. He taught me compassion, patience, honesty, loyalty, love, friendship, faith and well to many to even name. The biggest lesson of all was that all things are possible if you do not give up.
When I was 14 I headed to the pasture expecting to find Prince waiting at the gate as usual and he wasn’t there. I headed through the gate with a since of dread. I knew something was terribly wrong. With no sign of him in the front half I started running and as I got to the gate heading to the far back pasture I saw him grazing but even from the distance I could see something odd about his leg.
When I reached Prince I saw that his leg was broken. Badly broken. With his head down to graze mid shin of his leg was bent foward like and elbow rather than a knee. My life and his flashed before my eyes the moment I saw it. Why you ask?
This was in the 70’s and Prince was 24 years old at the time. I knew immediately what everyone would say. My parents called the vet and I waited with him. My heart was breaking and I was absolutely dieing inside. Prince would have no part of it. He nudged me and nearly pushed me over. This actually made me laugh. It also nudged me into determination. I was not giving up on him without a fight.
When the vet arrived I cried, begged, pleaded and demanded my course of action be listened to. The vet and my parents listened and they looked to the vet for his opinion. The vet, who I’d been raised up with and helped with all the animals when he was out on our calls looked at me, and then to Prince and back again for what seemed an eternity… He then turned to my parents and said “if anyone can get through this it’s the two of them.” and then looked at me and said, “come on, we’ve got work to do”. I buried him and Prince in the biggest hug! We set and cast Prince’s leg and the vet explained that it was up to me to keep watch and make sure it stayed clean and dry and to watch for any sign of decay.
I made a place for Prince in the garage and he stayed there while he had his cast on. Prince being Prince would not go potty in the garage so I had to take him on walks. I learned real fast not to stand on that side where the cast was too. When he walked he’d swing it out to the side and around and if you didn’t move you got whacked! We all signed his cast too and spoiled him absolutely rotten (as if he wasn’t already). So how did it all turn out?
To make a long story short, I had Prince until I was 28 years old. So as I said, he’s my inspiration and teacher and now you too know how many wonderful lessons this dear pony taught me and why this picture is so precious and important to me.
Dedicated to and in loving memory of Prince 1953-1991
Posted by Melody Baum 
