Happy 12th Anniversary Lester!!!

First pic taken together I wrote this about 5 years ago:
I bought Lester from a horse trader when he was 4, and he is now 11 years old!...where does the time go??! Before I bought him he had a pretty unsuccessful racing career; winning only once!
In 1995 I started "horse shopping" for the 3rd time in my life. I've never really been big on shopping and horse shopping is even less fun! Every horse I called about in the month of November and December was already sold! It was very frustrating and my patience was running low. I called a familiar horse trader (Sally)and asked what horses she had available. She told me about a few and I scheduled a time to go see them. The price I was quoted on "Little Bit" (Lester), was $2500. When I went out to "try" him out I was told his price was now $3000 (by the "rider", Laura). I still rode him and liked him. I did everything you can possibly do WRONG when it came to buying a horse! I brought my own saddle and they supplied me with the bridle (a kimberwick snaffle), in other words, it was a gag bit with a chain. Laura assured me that he would "go" in a snaffle no problem. Being the trusting person I am, I believed her!
Having ridden "Little Bit" once, I decided to make an offer on him. When I called I once again had to deal with the "rider", Laura. I asked her who I would need to talk to about "money" and she said I could talk to her. I offered $2300 for him and she laughed at me and told me that anyone who NOW came to see him, he was for sale for $3500!! Disappointed, I hung up the phone and told my sister what happened...... She Immediately called Sally and left her the following message: "This is Jennifer L.~ and I am calling to tell you why I will never buy a horse from and why I will keep everyone I know from buying a horse from you! Your business and your riders are very rude and unprofessional to change the price of a horse twice and laugh at my sister's offer.....I got a call from Sally the following day and she said I could HAVE him for $2500:-) Thanks Jen!
Then it was "vet check" time. Let me give you some advice; NEVER go to one a lone:-) Even if you pick someone up off the street to go with you to be your moral support, you'll be better off! OK, well maybe not, but be sure to bring someone who's opinion you trust highly! I had to go it a lone. During the exam the vet told me many things. Everything from "this horse is LAME, do you want to go on with the vet check" to "the way his hair (mane) grows, it may fall out during the summer"! Not sure what to do at this point; thinking, "Do I really want to buy a lame horse that may go bald every summer"? At this time I went a head and took some X-rays since the lady offered to pay half the money for them......Well it turned out that Lester's feet were just bruised from being ridden on frozen ground and so I went ahead and said I would buy him!:-)
January 11, 1996 was the day that Lester became mine. After school I went to the bank and withdrew $2500 CASH!!! The bank teller looked at me worryingly. Strangely, I knew the woman, she had substituted for my math class before (Umm, does that make sense to anyone??) She probably thought I was planning on running away from home or something! But I finally told her, "Don't worry, I'm just going to buy a horse".
My sister and I hooked up the truck and trailer and we were off to pick up Lester...."Driving through the sleet on all the slippery roads.... laughing all the way..." (OK, enough singing). It was a cold, miserable day, but even so I was happy to be bringing my "baby" home:-). Up until this point Laura and Sally had been calling him "Little Bit" and up until the time I singed the Bill of Sale, I thought that his real name was "Little Bit Less", not, "Little Bit Wet". So we called him "Less" the first couple of minutes and then Jen started calling him "Lester" And so the name "Lester" just stuck.......
It was another week before I could ride him because his feet were still too sore. But finally the day came when I finally got to ride Lester as my own. (Drum roll please......) I tacked him up and put him in a nice plain snaffle and climbed on, Actually I think I probably got a "leg up". His walk was nice and his trot was also great. Then I asked for the canter which he promptly picked up. I then realized that I had been lied to by Laura, the "rider" when I tried to ask Lester to halt. He had no BRAKES! I had to run him into the rail to get him to stop. This continued for a while and so we had many ups and DOWNS.
I now know that Lester is probably one of the best horses I will ever have. He's got it all; the looks, personality, great work ethic, confidence, intelligence etc... and he can always make me smile!