Sam is a Belgian horse who weighs approximately 1900 pounds and is approximately 17.3 hands tall. He is frozen and is approximately 27 years old. Now, life with Sam can be interesting. If he ever found out how big he was, there would be no stopping him.

I think one of the funniest episodes with Sam so far has been with our friends, little Jack Russell, who decided to take on Sam. This little guy was going to eat Sam alive. Our daughter was riding Sam and she walked around the house not knowing TJ was gone. We were in the house and we heard him bark and grow. Of course, our daughter stopped Sam, who just stood there looking at this little dog. Sam didn’t know what to make of TJ. It took some work, but TJ was convinced to go in. Sam never budgeted.

Sam is my baby. If he’s trying to let the goats out, I can open the back door and yell, SAM BACK! She stops, takes a few steps back, and looks around her to see where I am. Sometimes I close the door to see what she will do. Usually she just calmly walks off.

The only thing I’ve seen bother Sam is strong wind, I’m talking 45mph plus wind. Now, it’s impressive to see that great horse with all four hooves in the air. We’ve seen it back off once. We were filling the storage tank and my son, who is over six feet tall, was standing next to Sam. Bozey, our 21-year-old quarter horse, decided to hit the hose, sending water up Sam’s nose. Sam grew up and our son saw first hand how great Sam is.

Now, water is a big problem with our horses. Our daughter was filling the stock tank in the foal pen when she heard a commotion. There Bozey was playing with the hose and Smokey, her colt, was trying to drink water from the tank. Just as our daughter reached over the fence to take the hose off Bozey, Smokey grabbed the end drenching our daughter.

When it’s hot here (most of the year), our horses love to be hosed down, so filling the storage tanks can be time consuming. They love to bathe, however, like most horses, they immediately lie down in the sand and roll.

Sam will hold his ground so the kids sit on top of him to get their picture taken. He loves kids and our grandkids love being led around so they can ride him. Our chickens and roosters can walk around and under it. We even had a baby pygmy goat come out and stand between Sam’s hind legs. Sam froze. We froze to be able to summarize the situation. Little billy ran off and we went out to catch him. Sam never budgeted.

Sam’s previous owner has told us stories about how he stops, looks and listens at intersections. I really think he is one of the smartest horses I have seen in a long time. Both Sam and Bozey follow my direction without even being on a guide line. This is very helpful if they come loose.

We thought we were forgetting to lock the gate to the pasture, but we really couldn’t believe that after all these years it happened regularly. Well, Bozey was the culprit. The last time she let herself and Sam out was around midnight. I heard Smokey having a fit and got up to see what was going on. There, standing at the back door were Sam and Bozey. It was as if they knew they had done something wrong and were there to confess. We walked them back to their pasture and went back to bed.

Bozey had been sick and locked up. She was ready to run and frolic, but I wasn’t quite ready to leave her. She saw the opportunity to snap out of it and took off, running loose across the yard and into the woods. I came out of her pen, yelled and pointed at her door. She stopped, turned, and reluctantly trotted back to her pen.

I have been truly blessed with Sam and Bozey. Like everyone else who has lived on a farm or ranch, we have had animals that have tested our patience. There is no substitution for well-trained animals. Sam and Bozey have helped create wonderful family memories and I’m sure they will continue to do so for quite some time.