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Jessica Vassar of Peters Creek enjoys a sweet moment with her horse, Pete, a former packhorse who is now adjusting to family life. Vassar, 11, sold homemade cinnamon rolls and bread for nearly two years to earn the funds she needed to purchase Pete from the Alaska Equine Rescue organization.
PHOTO BY AMY M. ARMSTRONG
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Pete is moody, uncooperative and sometimes snaps at Jessica Vassar, but that doesn't stop her from caring for him.
"He's just not used to being loved yet," Jessica said.
Pete is a horse. Jessica is an 11-year-old girl who sold homemade bread and cinnamon rolls for nearly two years to earn enough money to purchase the Paint.
Theirs is a love story - the kind many a pre-teen girl dreams of while watching "National Velvet" or "The Black Stallion."
It's taken some unconditional determination to love Pete, but according to Vassar and her mother, Angela Vassar of Peters Creek, Pete's wily ways are to be expected - at least until he adjusts to family life.
Under mom's watchful eye, trained by years of Wyoming ranch experience, Jessica is slowly but surely breaking down the barriers Pete put up after 15 years of service as a pack horse working out of Nebesna in Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
"He's a wonderful horse," Angela said. "He just doesn't know it yet."
With his working days behind him as of last fall, Pete found himself in the care of the nonprofit Alaska Equine Rescue while waiting for a more permanent home.
In late January, Pete landed as a foster care horse at the Vassar's cozy little ranch just off Aurora Borealis Road.
The Vassars had an empty two-stall barn for Pete to occupy.
Angela and husband, R.J., had long ago given up their two Arabian horses after Jessica and her siblings, Gabby, 9, Elisabeth, 7, Joshua, 5, and Rachael, 3, came along.
Well, OK, so the barn wasn't quite empty.
It served as a great storage spot for all the gadgets and toys kids use.
The family rearranged and made room for Pete and his feed.
After all, R.J. had promised Jessica that when she raised $1,000, he'd let her buy a horse, and he'd buy her a trailer to transport the horse.
At $3.50 per loaf of bread and $10 per dozen cinnamon rolls made from wheat she grinds herself, Jessica's horse account kept growing as she earned loyal customers among friends at her church and in the local home school association the family belongs to.
The enterprise included educational opportunity for Jessica as well.
Math, marketing, cost analysis and customer service were all things Jessica learned as on-the-job training.
Rather than forcing Jessica to do yet another lesson on those topics, Angela let experience be the best teacher.
Now, Jessica has a busy business that helps support her horse habit - one Angela knows can get expensive, particularly as Jessica joins the local horse show scene and needs to purchase show outfits and show tack.
And it appears Pete has found a home.
That is, if he will stop his nasty habit of biting when he doesn't like the activity around him.
At the Vassar household, there is plenty of activity.
As Jessica groomed Pete, her siblings "assisted" and Pete tolerated the many brushes combing his body, while a toddler dashed about saying, "horsey, horsey."
Angela monitored the activity to be sure Pete's bad habit didn't resurface.
When Jessica bought Pete for $500 from the equine rescue group after only three weeks of foster care, R.J.'s only stipulation was that Pete must stop biting.
But mom has a cure for that.
It's called tough love.
One good wallop on the nose.
"Just so he thinks we are going to kill him if he ever bites again," Angela said. "That will straighten him up."
That and Jessica's patient love.
As she cleaned out his feet, Pete turned his head to perhaps nibble at Jessica's backside.
She turned and looked at him saying, "No, Pete."
Faced with mom and Jessica's four siblings, Pete had little choice but to comply.
"See, Pete, that's a good boy," Jessica told him. "You can be nice."
Reach the reporter at news@alaskastar.com.
