Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - Rhythm's Story - What Next

Part One of the Baby Boomer Series

Rhythm's Story starts here

After the birth of the twins and the roller coaster ride that turned out to be, this beautiful Arabian horse again became an after thought in my mind. I had so much going on with the twin foals there was no way I had time to thing about what this all meant for him now. I was having enough trouble trying to figure out how I was going to keep the twins alive.

I also had to figure out how to still pull off having my annual open house. With the twins issues gobbling up all my financial resources, I really need to do whatever I could to get something sold. Since Rhythm wouldn't be broke enough to have a show record by that time, he became just another horse on the place for the time being.

Once the open house was over, I would work on his training again. I would have to give up on getting him into the ring the following year. The horse would be six years old by then and had to be in the full bridle. While Rhythm had been ready to show as a junior horse before this all had happened. He hadn't been steady enough yet to put him into the curb. He would have acquired that steadiness over the show season and been ready to start in the curb in the fall. That had been the plan.

Now it was going to be fall before I could even work on building up the horse back up to his previous strength. It would be months after that before we got to that steadiness. The reasonable thing to do was shoot for showing the horse in 2008. He wasn't big enough to be a hunter and he never would have liked that anyway. The horse wanted to go slow and be a drop dead gorgeous western pleasure horse. So 2008 it was, unless some other twist of fate came along.

Of course, you know it did. Not only did the twins take up way more of my time than I ever could have imagined. The weather that fall turned absolutely horrendous. The winds whipped regularly at 35 to 50 mph and the rains poured as they seem to only be able to do here in Washington but we did not get our usual breaks in between. It was non stop and there was no way I was going to be able to ride outside.

I had tried to get some horses moved in over to the barn where Rachel had Dandy but the trainer just kept putting me off. The other place I had as an option wouldn't take stallions, and if I couldn't take all the horses I needed to ride, there was no point in taking Rhythm.

Not to mention, that Rhythm didn't know he wasn't a stallion. Even after gelding, he was and is the studdiest horse I have ever known. Some old timers will tell you that you must add six months for every year you go past the yearling year to how long it will take for the horse's behavior to change. Others will tell you you might as well add a year for each year over that yearling mark. Either way it meant it might be a while, if ever, before there was any change in this horse.

There was no place with an indoor arena that I could afford to move my horses. It wasn't safe to be hauling my horses to the nearby county park where I normally ride. Even if I did get to the park, it wasn't safe to ride there with winds that high, branches were flying everywhere. Again, my plans for Rhythm were on hold.

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

Rhythm's Story - What Next Part 2


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4 comments:

  1. Poor Rhythm. He is absolutely gorgeous and to have that happen to him would be disappointing.

    Waiting for the next installment to find out how Rhythm does.

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  2. Will Rhythm be shown anywhere in WA this summer? How about Legs? I'd love to see them in person!

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  3. Well the saying "it never rains, it pours" has a whole new meaning with this story in mind.

    So frustrating, I know. Time just flies when you least want it to.

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  4. jolynna, poor Rhythm is right. I'm pretty sure he would have loved to spend time with some ladies! LOL

    Rhythm's is an ongoing story. It will just take a couple of more installments to bring it up to current, I think.

    dj, I'm really not planning on showing in WA, because I really am not comfortable in the facility where Region 5 holds their championships. But we might make it to Daffodil, if I can even get back in the saddle long enough! LOL Certainly will post that information here if we actually get to that.

    lori, I did begin to wonder what would happen next with this horse. He is such a beautiful horse and so talented but stuff just kept happening. LOL

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