Serafina
Ski Diva Extraordinaire
So, I have had a real roller-coaster month with my boy Huey! He came from an auction a year and a half ago, and was NOT in good shape physically or mentally when he did (they were having to use a chain shank on him, at minimum) but my trainer (who was at the auction) saw through the hair and hooves and attitude and grime and cuts from being cast, etc etc etc and recognized Quality underneath all that and brought him home for the lesson program. He turned out to be WAY too sensitive to make a good schoolmaster, or at least, a good schoolmaster of many, but he's been great in teaching one (me) to ride.
It's actually pretty funny, because it's become very clear to everyone that he DOES think that he's teaching me to ride. He gets very shirty when I do something that he didn't teach me to do (like an extended trot, which he doesn't want to do because it's too much work). Anyway, he turns out to be fine with just *one* green rider at a time, and we've been having a ball. After my trainer brought him home she spent a lot of time on the web looking at reports of stolen horses because he was That Good under the grime that she was worried someone had fenced him to the auction. No results on that, and in the meantime, we haven't found anyone who recognized him. The auction house refused to cut loose with any information at all, other than the sale paperwork and the Coggins. The conclusion of my trainer and the vet is that he had, at some point, been doing GP-level show jumping, but that's about all we knew.
All that changed three weeks ago when the vet showed up to give him some acupuncture and arrived with a posse of Supporting Characters (vet students, vet tech students, a bunch of summer help). One of whom walked into the barn, talked to me for a few minutes about what I wanted done and why, and then turned to look at him and said "Oh, so THIS is where you wound up!" And I was all "Wait, you KNOW this horse?!?" I peppered her with questions to find out how likely it was that this was the horse she remembered, and when she asked if he still had that habit of throwing his head up in the air and moving his legs super fast instead of extending his gait, I thought maybe it was 60% probable we had a match. When she asked if he was still really bossy, I thought it was 70% probable. When she knew about how he makes his bottom lip flap when he works in the ring and it makes a big popping noise, my estimate went up to 95%. Then she contacted the equestrian program director of the place she thought she knew him from, and sent a picture, and then we knew.
My boy WAS a GP show jumper. The bone chip in his hock that made him lame last summer is what made him not sufficiently reliable at those heights, and got him retired into the other program, where they jumped him in hunter classes. The suspensory problem I had this spring is what got him retired from the second career as a hunter jumper.
I made sure that the program director knew that whoever they'd retired him to had NOT taken care of him and HAD sent him to the auction after a year. I don't care who that was, because he's mine now, but that program is pretty big and I reckon they need good reliable retirement homes, and whoever they sent him to was NOT one of those. They needed to know.
Anyway. I was able to get not just his show name, but his USEF name! And I got his records!
He is a Dutch Warmblood! And a really good one, too! His sire is Emilion, a World Cup show jumper. He is truly a Prince of horses. I mean, *I* always thought that, but now we have actual evidence.
And the people from his past were *astonished* to find that he's now teaching a green adult to ride. Apparently, he has always before been reserved for the Most Advanced riders. I also found out that he was used to bossing his other riders around like crazy. I do not put up with any bossing around from him. Once in a while he'll pull some trick out of his bag and run it up the flagpole, just in case it gets results, I guess. It doesn't, and he gets his manners back pretty fast. So I'm both the worst rider he's ever had, and the only one who is totally comfortable standing up to him. It probably explains a lot about our relationship.
I am thinking of taking him to a small regional show as a reward for putting up with my crummy riding. Some of the girls from the barn took him to shows last summer before I bought him, and they tell me he LOVES all of that Show Stuff - getting braided, etc. and that when he steps into the ring, even at these dinky country shows, he preeeens for the judge and just generally loves it. I don't have any particular need to compete, but my feeling is, if he loves going to the show, we can go to the show...
It's actually pretty funny, because it's become very clear to everyone that he DOES think that he's teaching me to ride. He gets very shirty when I do something that he didn't teach me to do (like an extended trot, which he doesn't want to do because it's too much work). Anyway, he turns out to be fine with just *one* green rider at a time, and we've been having a ball. After my trainer brought him home she spent a lot of time on the web looking at reports of stolen horses because he was That Good under the grime that she was worried someone had fenced him to the auction. No results on that, and in the meantime, we haven't found anyone who recognized him. The auction house refused to cut loose with any information at all, other than the sale paperwork and the Coggins. The conclusion of my trainer and the vet is that he had, at some point, been doing GP-level show jumping, but that's about all we knew.
All that changed three weeks ago when the vet showed up to give him some acupuncture and arrived with a posse of Supporting Characters (vet students, vet tech students, a bunch of summer help). One of whom walked into the barn, talked to me for a few minutes about what I wanted done and why, and then turned to look at him and said "Oh, so THIS is where you wound up!" And I was all "Wait, you KNOW this horse?!?" I peppered her with questions to find out how likely it was that this was the horse she remembered, and when she asked if he still had that habit of throwing his head up in the air and moving his legs super fast instead of extending his gait, I thought maybe it was 60% probable we had a match. When she asked if he was still really bossy, I thought it was 70% probable. When she knew about how he makes his bottom lip flap when he works in the ring and it makes a big popping noise, my estimate went up to 95%. Then she contacted the equestrian program director of the place she thought she knew him from, and sent a picture, and then we knew.
My boy WAS a GP show jumper. The bone chip in his hock that made him lame last summer is what made him not sufficiently reliable at those heights, and got him retired into the other program, where they jumped him in hunter classes. The suspensory problem I had this spring is what got him retired from the second career as a hunter jumper.
I made sure that the program director knew that whoever they'd retired him to had NOT taken care of him and HAD sent him to the auction after a year. I don't care who that was, because he's mine now, but that program is pretty big and I reckon they need good reliable retirement homes, and whoever they sent him to was NOT one of those. They needed to know.
Anyway. I was able to get not just his show name, but his USEF name! And I got his records!
He is a Dutch Warmblood! And a really good one, too! His sire is Emilion, a World Cup show jumper. He is truly a Prince of horses. I mean, *I* always thought that, but now we have actual evidence.
And the people from his past were *astonished* to find that he's now teaching a green adult to ride. Apparently, he has always before been reserved for the Most Advanced riders. I also found out that he was used to bossing his other riders around like crazy. I do not put up with any bossing around from him. Once in a while he'll pull some trick out of his bag and run it up the flagpole, just in case it gets results, I guess. It doesn't, and he gets his manners back pretty fast. So I'm both the worst rider he's ever had, and the only one who is totally comfortable standing up to him. It probably explains a lot about our relationship.
I am thinking of taking him to a small regional show as a reward for putting up with my crummy riding. Some of the girls from the barn took him to shows last summer before I bought him, and they tell me he LOVES all of that Show Stuff - getting braided, etc. and that when he steps into the ring, even at these dinky country shows, he preeeens for the judge and just generally loves it. I don't have any particular need to compete, but my feeling is, if he loves going to the show, we can go to the show...