Lady’s Crystal Divinity – Lady D
Every story has a beginning and ours truly began with Lady D…..It was 2005 and at that time we were living on a 5 acre place caretaking an elder Lady who became our beloved ‘Tai Tai” as a title she preferred. She was 97 years old and had been born to missionary parents in China 1908.
Lady D’s story would never have happened without Tai Tai’s home opening for our family. Every horse person has their childhood story of deep connection with horses and Lady D came into our lives as a childhood dream come true when Tai Tai said to us ‘you should get a horse to help keep the grass down on this property and perhaps we can have it pull a cart for us to ride in.”
She was found on the ‘Horstopia’ website listed with the name “Lady’s Crystal Divinity” and was for sale for only $400 as a 6 month old filly – her low price was due to her not being able to be registered with the American Paint Association due to her Quarter Horse Sire not being cross registered .
She was born in Michigan to a Paint horse breeder in an ice storm on April 11th and we fell in love with her at first sight- little angel wings on her hind end and the unforgettable ‘scythe’ marking on her face.
It was a magical yet spontaneous choice made from a mothers heart wanting her little boys to be able to have the same wondrous experience she had as a little girl with horses. The absence of their father weighed heavy and Lady D’s arrival lifted the hearts and spirits of the family filling a gap with hope and her very unique character.
Her first barn was a carport and corral was simple wire and T-posts behind the little 800sqft Tiny Home we lived in that Tai Tai called “Morning Glory”.
That first year after her arrival was full of so much happiness and fun for the boys as they learned how to care for her and spend time with her. One morning Jaron, who was only 5 years old, ran in saying ‘I got on Lady D’s back all by myself!” We ran outside with him asking him so show us how he did it. He scrambled quickly to the side of the fence and called her over. She came happily lining herself up for him to launch his body from the log he had climbed up.
Unfortunately Tai Tai’s biological children had plans for their aging mother and her estate that forced us leave our magical sanctuary before Lady D turned 2 years old. Thankfully their paternal eldest brother, Element, (who was born from their father’s first marriage) stepped into the void their father had left when he returned from working overseas.
Our little family moved to another ranch of 60 acres that was for lease and we began our new lives with his support during these critical years of their childhoods. Little did we know at that time we were beginning what would become an epic saga of the nomadic horse rescue ranch as our family navigated 11 moves since then in search of a forever home.
Follow our journey to “Rancho Bona Vita” and our first real rescue of ‘Fawn’ here……..