A whinny and a prayer
Winning a horse is girl's dream come true
A $2 ticket made Alli Bondurant's dream come true when she won an Arabian horse raffled off at the Northwest Montana Fair.
It's been a tough year financially for the 12-year-old Kalispell girl's family, and when her parents didn't have extra money for raffle tickets, Bondurant scraped together the last of her own money to buy just one ticket.
"She has dreamed of owning her own horse for about five years now," said Gina Dell, Alli's mother. "Every year at the fair she manages to get $15 to $20 or however much money she can squeeze from me and her dad or any other adult with money in their pocket to purchase raffle tickets. Every year she is sad on the day of the drawing, except for this year."
The Arabian Horse Club of Western Montana sponsors the annual horse giveaway, and ironically, on the very day the winning name was drawn at Murdoch's Ranch and Home Supply, Alli's parents were signing papers to sell their house and half-acre of property.
"We joked that with our luck she'd win the horse this year when we have no place to house him - and she did," Dell said.
Dell said her husband, John Dell, is a truck driver and heavy equipment operator and has experienced a drastic drop in business since the recession began. But despite the financial difficulties, the family is rallying around the newest member of the family, a beautiful Arabian yearling Alli named Sundance.
The horse is being stabled at High Line Equine Center where Alli, a seventh-grader at Kalispell Middle School, has taken riding lessons for years. Alli and her stepfather, John Dell, are working with trainer Carol Thill, and her father, Chip Bondurant, also is involved with helping care for Sundance.
"We spend time every day working with her horse," Gina said, adding that they're looking forward to trail rides.
Prior to winning the horse, the family had made plans to move to Arizona, but "right now we are considering all our options," Gina said. "Wherever we end up, Sundance will definitely be with us."
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com