Possum was a 2-1/2 year old bay quarter horse cross that came from Canada as a 3-month old. He had personality plus.

In the summer of 1999, it was time to find a trainer for him because he did not like men and refused to be ridden.  So the search began.  I interviewed several trainers but did not like one thing or another about the way they trained, and felt they were not right for Possum.  I was given the name of a trainer whom I was told used a soft hand with horses, Randy P. Melton.  I spoke with Randy and told him all about Possum and Randy agreed to come meet him.

After seeing Possum, Randy agreed to train him.  On the third day of training, Randy told me he would ride Possum on the fifth day; to my amazement, he did, and it was filmed.  Randy put in 30 days of training Possum, and I could not ask for a better trained horse.

Unfortunately, on January 2, 2000, Possum was in our field, got spooked and jumped the fence resulting in a wound that exposed the bone on his left back leg.  Due to Possum still not liking most men, it was difficult to treat his wound.  Bobbie Huff, owner of Double B Acres, and Randy came to look at Possum and offered to take him home with them.  Randy would treat his wound twice a day.

For six weeks Bobbie and Randy worked very hard caring for Possum, doing daily wound irrigation, applying medication twice daily, and giving Possum lots and lots of love. The four inch bone exposure was reduced to one-half in six weeks. But under all the healing the bone became infected and Possum had stopped bearing weight on the leg.  A very heart breaking decision had to be made. And so on February 10, 2000, Possum was put down. That was the hardest day for all of us, but most of all it was hard letting go of something you loved so much.

I can never say thank you enough to Bobbie and Randy for caring for Possum, and being there when Possum and I needed them most.