A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses Part 11

Part 1

OK, I've decided this is the way to go for right this minute. I'll work a little bit on history that'll be laying the groundwork for some of the other topics. So here goes on a little more about my dreams of breeding Arabian horses.

Wow, I didn't realize it had been so long since I posted in this series. But when I back tracked to see where I left off it was right before we went to the Daffodil Arabian Spring Show with Rachel and Dandy, my first Arabian foal, now 17 years old. So much has happened since then, it seems like years ago.

We left off with Dandy, my first Arabian foal, being born and growing like a darn weed. I expressed concerns with all the things I didn't know back then that I know now and how well the horse turned out. We're really lucky that we didn't have any wrecks with him as a newborn foal.

But life was kind and we managed to skate by without any serious incidents with that first foal. And for that matter with most of our horse experiences. We had one tragedy that year however.

During the Daffodil Arabian Spring Show that year we lost Nick's pony, Sparkle Plenty. The pretty palomino mare had coliced and as hard as we'd tried we were unable to save her. The mare just gave up. The vet felt that all of her years on sand lots to avoid founder had caught up with her.

Nick's heart was broken and he built a small shrine to her memory in one corner of his room. To this day, he hasn't gotten over the loss of that pony. There is still a box containing the items from that memorial tucked neatly away with the rest of his important keepsakes. The little blond pony had stolen his heart and it still breaks to this day.

Scandalous was paid about the same time that the pony died. We immediately jumped right into another horse purchase, on contract, of course.

This horse was a 3 year old purebred Arabian gelding by Aikon and out of, well who else, but Scandalous. When we had first met the mare, this beautiful bold bay colt had just been weaned from his mother. He was the leader of the pack of Aikon colts born that year. It was love at first sight for Dave.

So with Scandalous being paid for, we had to buy Aidol. The horse had been shown at the Daffodil Spring Show in the Western Pleasure Futurity which was open to 3 - 5 year olds. Aidol was only 3 but placed second in the huge class of 26 against horses who had been under saddle for 2 years when he only had about 90 days on him.

The horse that beat him, Sundae's Hot Fudge was a five year old with an extensive show record. The horse just under him placing third was 4 year old RRF Taylor Made in his second year under saddle. Taylor went on the be unanimous Canadian and US Nationals Western Pleasure Junior Horse Champion. Aidol was definitely a looker and talented as well.

When we bought the horse after Daffodil, he was already entered in several futurities so we went along with the deal the trainers offered to show him in the futurities. We would split the winnings and pay his training and show fees only if he won. Sounded like a good deal at the time.

Now I realize the only ones that made money on the deal were the trainers. They got half the purse money AND paid for their work (which translated to ALL of the purse money), we got the joy of seeing our boy ridden in the ring and the ribbons. Aidol placed in ever class he showed in except one. In that one he was miscued and picked up a wrong lead. His show record for the year included 3 Regional Top Fives in Western Pleasure Junior Horse and two futurities and a Championship in the Junior Horse qualifying class. He beat RRF Taylor Made in that championship class.

Now you might be thinking what does buying that horse, a gelding no less, have to do with the dream of breeding Arabian horses. Well, for me I figured if Dave was going to be making sacrifices to help me achieve my dream, the least I could do was to go along with supporting him having one little horse. Let's just say I'm older and wiser now, but I'll never regret purchasing Aidol.

That horse was a kick to ride! And while my most painful horse injuries came about because of him, the lessons I learned from the horse were worth every penny and every painful moment. He'll always hold a big place in my heart.

But Aidol was not the only horse we bought that year. The training facility/show barn had a big sale that year and on the sale's list was another gelding that we all loved. The horse had been purchased as a 2 year old colt by the owners of the show barn for BIG BIG bucks! But the horse had never quite realized his potential.

They had gelded him to "fix" their problems to no avail. While the horse was beautiful under saddle, he always held an ace up his sleeve and could sabotage the best of rides. The beautiful Arabian gelding had been offered for sale at a reduced price (half his purchase price) at the last big sale but had not sold. Now he was being offered at 1/4 of that original price.

The owners told me if he didn't sell at the sale, I could buy him for half of that asking price. I already had Aidol on a contract and couldn't afford another one, there was no way I could be paying on two horse at the same time. So I countered that I would pay the full asking price if they would let me buy the horse before the sale and if they would allow me to purchase on a contract where I would not begin payments until the first horse was paid for. They took my offer and the people who came from Canada to buy the horse were very disappointed! We were delighted!

So again, what does purchasing a ring sour show gelding have to do with the dream of breeding Arabian horses. This is the first horse I owned that was really broke, both Scandalous and Aidol were only green broke horses and I was about as green a rider as you can get. Well, not that bad I guess, I knew which side to get on, and had a good idea of the basics of getting around the arena by now, but I didn't have a clue about showing.

This horse was going to teach me the ropes at horse shows and when I was done with him, he would be Lindsay's show horse. I already knew that he put his bad behavior on the back burner anytime he was asked to carry a kid around the ring. While Mark (barn name) wasn't happy with trainers or adults riding him around in circles at a horse show, he was down right honored to be entrusted with a child.

This horse would teach me the skills I would need to get my future horses around the ring. I would be able to learn about negotiating traffic on a horse than already knew how to get around the ring safely. And I'd get a chance to learn about timing getting ready for classes, warm-ups before classes etc so that by the time I was really to show my own young horses, I would be an experienced competitor.

So my horse herd leapt to five but only one of those horses was of my breeding. Yet all of those horses would play a part in teaching me what I needed to know to get down the road I am on today. Some would have a bigger impact than others but Malachite (EW Fex x FF Maria) would have a bigger impact on my dream than any horse I owned. Too bad that impact would be heart breaking.

To be continued............

Part 12


Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse dream horse show gelding