No pictures for this one, but I was born crawling on my hands and knees whinnying and my first word was "horse," true story. Every four-legged creature in a field was a "horse" to me. When I got a little older, I started over-turning laundry baskets in the door ways between rooms to act as "jumps" and "galloped" around my house performing my Olympic course flawlessly.
Of course this was all well and good for a little while, but needless to say didn't sustain me for long.
My precious grandfather bought a huge 17hh beastly giant of a horse for my 7th birthday, a freckled white I-have-no-idea-what-breed mare. He had me convinced he was building a barn for a mule, but no! I was ecstatic! And then quickly bored when her speed maxed out at about 5mph. Not too long after, he also bought a pony. A little mean evil paint racking pony who bit and once chased and pinned my aunt against the back of the house; but I loved her. I was the only one who would ride her, and I spent my early years racing her around my grandfather's five acres, pretending I was a medeival knight or an adventurous indian.
Finally, my mom started getting me lessons, and I eventually ended up at a small AQHA focused barn, where I went to my first 4-H show on a 24 year-old appaloosa gelding, Apache. The owners of said barn taught me a lot about horse care and responsibility, making me do all the horse care on my own before and after lessons. This was a big help. But as I got older, Apache just wasn't cutting it and the little backyard trail horses my grandfather bought weren't going to do much in a show ring either, so I started my search for a horse...
Which ended up with Dino the wonder horse, who I found abandoned at a farm (coincidentally only five minutes down the road from my current residence); apparently a cowboy had seen him at a farm as a baby, where they had let his halter grow into his face from neglect (they left him in his stall and did nothing with him; he always had a weird indention on his face where the halter had grown into his bone :( so sad), traded a saddle for him, chased him into a trailer, and somehow transformed him into a champion heeler and trick horse for charity. (Dino "talked" and picked up coke cans, but apparently he use to know how to bow and do all sorts of other tricks...!) Unfortunately, this gentleman passed away and left Dino to his daughter, who played around on him a little bit and then left him at this farm, not paying her bills, never coming back to see him... so I got him dirt cheap!
Me on new said horse:
Well, the short story of this is; Dino was the best horse a girl could ever ask for. He suffered the general abuse of the AQHA circuit for three years until I finally figured out that there was a bigger, smarter, more humane world out there than trying to shove your horse's head into an unnaturally low position, completely disregarding any true notions about balance and roundness. A lot of people told me I needed to sell dino, but I staunchly refused. I started teaching him "dressage" (I didn't know that much, but we worked on it) and was scoffed at when I actually, OMG, put my horse into a FRAME, you know, ON THE BIT, where he actually learned to collect and extend and do all sorts of fun things!? The result being, we did a little better in AQHA, and we racked up at every 4H show we went to, and I eventually beat my trainer's daughter with her 20,000 horse, and that pissed her off pretty badly.
And then I was through with all of that sillyness and started getting actual lessons from an actual trainer, who I to this day love to death. Leslie Smith was amazing, and she still teaches, but unfortunately moved two hours away. :(
Lessons with Leslie:
This was before I had any notion of proper equestrian fashion (see below for improvement); furthermore, I'd only been jumping like a year or two, so yes, horrible position, I get that. Dino is just trudging along, putting up with my silliness.
So Dino and I end up competing in all sorts of local jumper shows, and we won, a lot. And I got to give him a new show name (his AQHA name was horrible): RENEGADE! I thought it was fitting for him as a kid. I still have his leather halter engraved with his show name hanging on the back of my bedroom door... :(
But the best thing about jumper shows? None of this silly equitation stuff, just get over the jump ;P (ha, just kidding, equitation is important). My first 3'3" class: (yes, horrible, horrible form, I'm just glad to be getting over it.)
Leslie told me repeatedly I needed to event Dino, but because of money I never pursue this. Which is a shame, because Dino would have been an awesome, AWESOME, eventer. Here's the closest we ever got to eventing:
Anyway, we do a lot of local cheaper shows. We get better. Here:
(still no fashion sense, but a pretty decent trot!)
(George Morris would more approve this form; possibly slightly jumping ahead, but back flat, eyes looking ahead, heels down, outside branch of stirrup iron leading inside slightly, leg at girth, but then he'd give me hell for my release and tell me to move hands down... and he'd hate my fuzzy girth... and say my horse's knees are even but he doesn't tuck... oh well, he DOES tuck, just not over this tiny non-consequential thing, haha.)
(leading to muchos ribbons; I have boxes and boxes in my house. If I ever run out of firewood...)
(His last "retirement" show; he was 22 in this picture. I mean, what a freaking gorgeous boy. We were doing smaller jumps just for his age and because he was starting to develop a little arthritis.)
Dino spent the rest of his life in a paddock with two other horses, and I'd visit him on weekends to pet him and feed him treats. One day I got a call that he couldn't walk right, so we called out the vet and there was no good news; he had some arthritis problems, but nothing unmanageable, and I had noticed some slight lameness a few days before, but suddenly he couldn't walk right at all, and he had lost a bunch of weight, and wouldn't put any of his weight on his back right leg and spun in circles just trying to get comfortable. It was really horrible to see. And there was nothing they could do about it, so we had to put him down at the ripe old age of 25 :( He was like that though; a fighter, if something was wrong he'd try to hide it and push through it. But he was pretty sound and healthy up until the last few days of his life, which is a good way to live if you're a horse. And he was always, always loved in his last twelve years.
He taught me so much, and I often wish I could have him now, being the rider I am today, knowing that together we would accomplish SO much; especially as an eventer. Man he was BORN for that. He was so brave, and he could jump anything, and collect and trot/canter circles? No problem, he'd do that all day. I taught him to trot in place and side pass and half pass and he was positively the most willing horse I've ever had. He spent a few years at the college where I was involved with IHSA and they used him as a lesson horse some; everyone who loved rode him loved him; when they drew him at the shows, they won.
I just hope I can do him justice in the future, with the next horse I own. I know he'll never replace Dino, but I hope I can take everything I learned from him and give the next horse that steals my heart a successful career and a joyful life.
No comments:
Post a Comment