‘A queen’s gotta have a horse’

Sarah Pennington of Spirit Lake fell in love with horses during her first horseback ride at the tender age of one day old.

“I had her up on a horse the day she came home from the hospital,” says mother, Vicki Pennington, who bought her daughter a horse during her sixth month of pregnancy. “The horse was four months old when Sarah was born so they grew up together.”

Two years ago, Sarah worked as a bather and brusher in a grooming salon to earn enough money to purchase a new horse. She paid $800 to a rescue organization for a 10-year-old Morgan mare named Annie Oakley.

“She didn’t know a lot when I got her,” said the 17-year-old Pennington. “She’d been broke, but she didn’t have a lot of trust for anybody.”

Pennington worked daily with Oakley developing a relationship that helped them both excel.

“Within six months she was completely my horse and she wouldn’t let anyone else ride her,” Pennington said. “We got this really, really tight bond and it was almost like a sister kind of thing.”

Pennington and Oakley started barrel racing together at the Kootenai County Fairgrounds, and in 2007 earned top five overall with Pennington crowned as the 2008 Kootenai County Saddle Club queen. With high hopes, Pennington had her horse bred to an Arabian stallion and was expecting a foal in March. But, just after Christmas, tragedy struck.

I came home from work (at the veterinarian clinic) about 3:30 and Oakley was down in the field. When I ran out there, it looked like she’d rolled about three times—I’ve had to deal with colic before, and what happens is everything inside starts to swell and they can’t breathe or go to the bathroom. Everything stops more or less, and the intestines explode. Usually the best thing to do is to get them walking around to get their stomach moving, but it just didn’t work.”

Friends and neighbors raced to help save Oakley and her foal. Vicki Pennington gave the horse a shot of Banamine.

“Usually the Banamine releases all the muscles and can help the stomach release and get the gas going through and everything working again,” Sarah Pennington said.

“As soon as the vet pulled into the driveway, Oakley went down, and we knew that was it,” Pennington said, eyes tearing up. “It was hard, she was my baby.”

“Sarah couldn’t eat,” said Vicki Pennington. “She didn’t talk to anyone for several days – she was devastated.”

Word spread throughout the horse community and saddle club about Pennington’s loss. Not only did she lose her best friend, she now was a saddle club queen without a horse, and many parades coming up where she was expected to ride.

“I got a call from Myra Metcalf,” Sarah Pennington said. “She said, ‘You have no choice. You are coming down to the stable, there’s a little horse here that I am giving to you. You can come get him or I’ll bring him over and drop him off at your house. You have no choice, he’s yours.’ “

Diane Robson manages Red Top Stables out of Post Falls. She and Metcalf purchased five registered Blazer horses from the original breeder of Blazers. These horses are known for their athletic ability and great dispositions. Metcalf and Robson picked out a 4-year-old gelding which Pennington calls Bomber.

“They just gave him to me,” Pennington said. “There aren’t a lot of people out there with that much heart.”

“When Sarah lost her little mare, we had just crowned her queen and you know, a queen’s gotta have a horse,” Robson said. “We wanted to introduce the Blazers to the area and this way it would be seen and Sarah needed a good horse – like I said, you can’t be a queen without a horse. The Penningtons have a lot of kids and they’re great people and really active in the club. They’re always out there doing stuff and it was just a good opportunity to help somebody out.”

“Blazers are short horses,” Pennington said. “Bomber’s only 14.2 (hands), but it’s perfect for me because I’m only 5 feet tall. He’s got the best personality. I’ve had a halter on him three times and he’ll follow me anywhere. I work with him every day and about a week ago I put a saddle on him and he let me get up on him.”

Bomber and Pennington will be riding in the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Coeur d’Alene in March. She’ll also be riding in the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane rodeos this year, Hayden Days, Post Falls Days, Coeur d’Alene 4th of July and Christmas parades. Pennington, who is home schooled, is working on graduating this year and wants to go to school to get her business degree.

“I would also like to get into the NBHA (National Barrel Horse Association) and do barrel racing professionally,” Pennington saod.

Pennington has her whole life and many dreams ahead. She’d one day like to go into natural horsemanship and become a trainer.