The first marker
Buckskin mare · fifteen years · Villanova, Ontario
She arrived at eight months old, still nursing, so wild that to bring her home we had to buy her mother too. For twenty-eight consecutive nights, once the boarders had gone and the farm was quiet at nine o’clock, Dayna walked out to her stall and simply stood there. On the twenty-eighth night the halter went on.
In the arena she would bolt at every sudden noise, charge straight at Dayna, and slide to a stop inches away. Somewhere in that heartbeat she worked out that the woman standing still was the safe place. From that moment there was nothing she would not do.
Fifteen years later she was roping, team penning, barrel racing with Alana, marching in parades and county fairs, and hitting her marks on film to a spoken word with no lead rope on her at all. As a boss mare she never had to throw her weight around; the quiet was the authority.
She was allergic to dust and alfalfa, and rather than accept it Dayna built the bedding and feed that has since kept thousands of other horses breathing easily. Good legs and good lungs make a great horse. Sierra proved the whole sentence.
“Though she has crossed the pasture to greener hills, her spirit is timeless. A quick scan brings her whole story roaring back to life.”
Dayna — on the first Shield & Story marker
Every stone can carry one of these. Start yours.
Reserve a stone