Bailey Irish Creme

The first time I saw Bailey, her leg was stuck in a gate.

I don’t know why she was agitated, but something set her off, and she wanted out, so she pawed at the gate, and one foreleg went through the metal rails and trapped her.

We were visiting a local farm. I was new to horses, new to Virginia, and new to Kim (well, sort of, but that’s a story for a different day). In any event, the pony had her leg in the gate, and Kim jumped into the paddock to save her. She took hold of that pony’s foot and tried pushing, pulling, and twisting to maneuver it out.

I was watching the operation, certain Kim was about to get killed by this animal, and thinking there had to be a better way. All of a sudden, the pony had enough of being patient, so she reared and lunged backward, ripping her foot out of the trap.

When the pony jumped backward, the gate came with her, hit Kim, and knocked her face-first into a fence. This began my education on the normal hazards of the horse world and Bailey’s talent for mischief.

The pony was fine, and we bought her a few weeks later. She was six then; now she’s nearly 25.

When we came to Manakin Sabot and started the lesson program, Bailey was our first lesson pony. Countless children in Richmond’s western suburbs took their first riding lessons on Bailey. Her super smooth quarter-horse gait and kind demeanor made her the perfect ride for beginners.  

She’s slowed down since she retired, but she still has a rascally streak. Don’t turn your back on her if there’s an open stall door or paddock gate; she’ll be off before you know it. Her escape artist reputation has been a theme her entire life.

One day, she and her buddy Montego overwhelmed an unsuspecting kid trying to take a third horse out of a field they shared. The jailbreakers took off through the woods to the golf course. I can tell this story because it was long ago, and the statute of limitations has expired. Those two galloped up and down the fairway, having the time of their lives, making fools of Kim and me as we tried to catch or at least redirect them.

After running around like morons, living our worst nightmare for what seemed like an hour but was probably only 15 minutes, we lost them. They were last seen heading for Manakin Road. We had no choice except to go home, call the sheriff, and admit our failure. So we slunk back through the woods, only to find the two fugitives standing at the gate waiting for us.

Shortly after we got Bailey, a few families joined together for a 50-mile trial ride/camping weekend in Southwestern Virginia. Kim rode Montego, I had my OTTB Lily, and Haley rode Bailey bareback the whole distance.

On the way back, we stopped for fuel. One of the kids decided to give Bailey some water, so she undid the pony’s head restraint, put a bucket in front of her, and walked off to use the bathroom or something. I knew we had a problem when I spotted the paint pony wandering among the gas pumps. Bailey was tired of hanging out in the trailer, so she decided to stretch her legs and exited through the trailer’s people door. We had to remove the other two beasts to get her back in.

Bailey’s breakout attempts weren’t universally successful. We took her to a horse show once in a three-horse slant load trailer with a window in front of each horse. Now, horse trailer windows have bars, like jailhouse windows. Well, Bailey was left alone in the trailer for a few minutes and decided she wanted to leave through the window.

We learned about this situation when the show announcer reported a horse’s hoof sticking out of a trailer window and mentioned our license plate number.

Picture a panicky horse in the confines of a trailer, standing sideways, with a front foot stuck through the bars of a window that’s as high as her head. I thought we would have to shoot her to get her out. Some skinny bystander guy said to me, “Come on, we can do this.” And he jumped into the trailer.

I couldn’t stand by and watch a stranger get killed trying to save my kid’s pony, so I went right in there with him. Bailey was thrashing and jumping around, and we each got slammed against the wall a few times, but we pushed, pulled, lifted, and cajoled and somehow got that girl out of there – none the worse for it, either.

Later, the guy told me he once saved a horse that came halfway through the roof of an overturned trailer in a highway accident.

A year or so ago, Bailey’s arthritis began acting up, and Kim decided it was time to give her a break. She now lives in retirement with her buddy Whimzy at one of our satellite locations.

We rely on the support of our community to take care of Bailey and other retirees. If you’d like to help us keep these older horses out of the kill pens and slaughterhouses, please click the Donate button and look over the options. Thanks!