Dr. Dinah Skorich, DVM, of Pine Brush Equine in New York, shares a moment with her dark bay OTTB mare Athena. Photo by Jessica Skorich
New York equine veterinarian Dr. Dinah Skorich always had a “thing” for dark bay mares. And when she heard through a friend of a friend that 16.2 hand mare Athena (JC: Sneakin Mimi) needed a good home, and was offered at the rock-bottom price of $150, she couldn’t resist.
“I have a thing for black mares with no white, so I went to go see her after a friend of mine had heard about her,” Skorich says. “I went to see her and she walked right up to me, sniffed me all over, and started following me all around.”
Sneakin Mimi
New name: Athena
Sire: Snuck In
Dam: Bon Mimi
Foal date: May 10, 2005So she bought her in October 2011 with the plan to put some ground training in her and sell her during the HITS winter shows.
But Athena would have none of it!
The unraced, tattooed Thoroughbred quickly announced that she hated ring work and the veterinarian went to Plan B.
“I took her out on a trail ride one day and she just loved it. She relaxed right away, and became a different horse,” she says. “And by that point I got attached and knew she wasn’t going to be going anywhere” for a new home.
Now a practicing veterinarian with Pine Brush Equine in New York, she is too busy to ride as much as she’d like. But her dark bay mare is always ready for a nice hack, or even a photo shoot by Skorich’s photographer/artist sister, Jessica.
In this photo, the veterinarian shares a quite moment with her mare after an afternoon of grooming for the photo, and with cookies tantalizing close to the mare’s muzzle. The beauty of the scene reflects the companionable friendship between the veterinarian and her “project horse” who stayed.
Beautiful mare
This is a beautiful story….my dream exactly! Do you have a more pic’s of this beauty black mare, Athena? Would love it if you could send me a link.