Texas woman was forced to sell her horse at 16. A decade later, her daughter encouraged her to do everything she could to find him

Matti Gresham (@mattigresham) from Texas had a horse as a young girl but was separated from it. Two decades later, she did everything she could to find her horse again.

Gresham said that a couple of months ago, her daughter had her first horseback riding lesson. At the time, she remembered a flashback of herself growing up herding cattle on her grandparents’ farm. Gresham said she had a horse named Bow, who was with her until she was 16. She told her daughter about her horse, and her daughter allegedly asked where Bow was.

“I told her that my dad gave me, basically, an ultimatum,” Gresham explained. Her dad allegedly made her choose between keeping her horse and getting a car when she turned 16. If she didn’t sell her horse by then, Gresham claimed that she wouldn’t get a car, which she needs for transportation. Regardless, Gresham said she decided to keep her horse.

“This horse got me through, honestly, some of the toughest years of my childhood,” she said. But then, Gresham learned that it was illegal to ride a horse to school. According to the Texas Transportation Code, a person riding an animal on the roadway has the same rights and duties as a vehicle operator, except those that can’t apply by their nature. Gresham didn’t clarify whether her school district banned horses on campus, since it is legal to ride horses on Texas roads. Nevertheless, because of the alleged restriction, Gresham said she had to sell her horse.

She claims she had been devastated for over 20 years after losing Bow and couldn’t imagine making her own child choose between something she needs and a pet she loves. After hearing her story, her six-year-old daughter allegedly encouraged her mother to find Bow.

After 20 long years, she finally started her search for her long-lost horse

Gresham was inspired by her daughter, even though she said she had no records of Bow left. Although she allegedly did show-jump with her horse, she couldn’t remember details that would help her search. Gresham added that she didn’t know who bought him or where he went, and that even the arena she used to compete in back home was bought by a different arena.

She decided to reach out to the girls she used to compete with at a local barn. Gresham said that one of the girls told her to look into a couple of organizations. One organization was in Carlsbad, New Mexico, where Gresham said they used to compete. So, she went on social media and posted the photo in one of the Facebook groups, asking whether someone had seen her horse. Less than five minutes after posting the photo, Gresham said she received a reply from a man who allegedly claimed he knew where her horse was.

The photo featured a horse that looked like Bow, with two girls beside it. Gresham pointed to the pink halter the horse was wearing. “And that is the halter I bought him when I was 12 that he is still wearing, 18 years later,” Gresham claimed. The man allegedly sent Gresham a message explaining that his late aunt had bought the horse. However, the woman passed away, and someone else inherited the horse, which Gresham confirmed was Bow. The man allegedly said that his daughters, who were photographed beside Bow, rode him for some shows.

A grand reunion

Based on this lead, Gresham said she contacted the woman who now owned the horse. The woman allegedly allowed her to visit him “anytime.” Gresham said she sobbed after learning what had happened to her horse. She didn’t even have hope that he would be alive. But some pets are meant to be reunited with their families, and one dog was even found 1,000 miles from Oklahoma.

After going back and forth with Bow’s new owner, Gresham alleged the woman made an impossible offer. The woman explained that Bow had allegedly been out in the pasture, and nobody else had ridden him for a year. Then, she allegedly asked Gresham if she wanted her horse back.

“So, 48 hours after searching for this horse, she says, ‘If you want him, he’s yours.’ So, that was like, two weeks ago. He gets here by tomorrow,” Gresham said. Although Gresham said she would post about Bow once they were reunited, she hasn’t posted an update since November 15. Reunions can still happen, even though some people work with sparse leads. In this Ohio man’s case, he was willing to cross state lines all to be reunited with his long-lost son.

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