A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses - Rhythm's Story - What Next - Part 4

Part One of the Baby Boomer Series

Rhythm's Story starts here

In yesterday's post I got a bit sidetracked and really didn't tell you much about the two young women visiting my farm. When they got out of the car with Dave, quite frankly, I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't even know which was which but it really didn't matter.

Just looking at it from the perspective of suitability of horse to rider (one of the judging specifications is amateur owner classes) either of these two would be perfect. The young women were blond, beautiful and petite. I'd guess a size two but then I've never really seen a size two. It's more like a measure of the unattainable to me with my nearly six foot large boned frame so let's just leave it as petite.

You'll have to indulge me here for a moment. I don't even know why this struck me like this, but it did. The first impression I had was they were two beautiful Barbies. Yes, like the doll, and Rhythm was Barbie's horse. You know that kinda hulky masculine horse with all that flowing mane and tail that is made just for Barbie. Or maybe like Prince Charming's horse might be. It did, it struck me like some kind of fairy tale or perfect dream.

Hulky and masculine really is a great description of Rhythm. With his good substance and neck set on as high as it is, he looks much bigger than the reality. When I'd first gotten this inquiry they had actually wanted a bigger horse but presence makes up for size any day. And I had expressed that opinion. If ever there was a perfect matched set of horse and rider on looks alone, this was it. Now we just had to determine if they matched in the more important ways.

First off I had to get this Arabian horse out of his stall and out of the barn before we could even think about loading up and heading to the park for a ride. Now, I know that probably doesn't seem like it should be a problem but then you've never personally met Rhythm NOR been in that barn. The combination of the two can be a wreck waiting to happen.

Most of my horses are ok with that narrow aisle. They're pretty much used to clutter and stuff as well. I like them to know how to deal with such things so they don't stress about it at horse shows. So it didn't really bother me when we set it up that way.

Rhythm has never really minded it either. But when he's full of himself, that's when I wish I had more room. Dealing with a bounding, rearing horse in a six foot barn aisle can be tricky sometimes. I'd have put him someplace else, but the darn horse is an escape artist. This stall is the only one that keeps him in. Mostly I think because he likes it.

The aisle is really too narrow. The barn was built to be hay storage not to house horses. I ran out of places to put the creatures. As a result built a couple of smaller stalls in there for temporary use about five years ago. So much for temporary. Hay fills about half of that barn while the aisle and the stalls take up the other half.

I asked the two young woman to clear the aisle way and give me some room, explaining the kind of behavior I expected to see. I even pointed a location far enough away to be safe no matter what type of behavior I got.

Since I had kept Rhythm cooped up for nearly a week, I expected the horse to come bounding and leaping out of the stall. Followed by swinging his butt around once he was outside, then some rearing and pawing the air.

But horses are just like kids I think. The minute you say they will, they won't. It's a written law somewhere, I'm pretty darn sure. Rhythm must know that. Just like the kids, Rhythm didn't!

The horse pretty much walked out like he had manners, well, real, all the time manners. Not just the occasional ones you put on to make a good show for company. Or the ones he has when he's worked on a regular basis.

However, Rhythm is a darn smart horse. He gets the visitors thing. This horse has been known to be a perfect gentleman for them at my annual open house. Even for an occasional stray visit here and there the horse has been known to surprise me, but not often enough for me to have predicted this would happen. I'm pretty sure he was good just because I really wanted him to be BAD!

Loading in the trailer wasn't much different. Although I hadn't expected any kind of problem there. I had thought some kind of eruption between the barn and the trailer would happen when the usual one hadn't occurred. Usually at the trailer the horse might hesitate a step but at the first lift of the end of the lead, he leap right in happy to be on the road. AND that's what he did. How long would the horse keep this up.

By now I'm really starting to worry, I needed to know that these young women can deal with a horse like Rhythm. I was counting on seeing their faces and body language to help me decide if they knew enough to handle a horse with such a big attitude. I've already had the experience of selling a couple of horses to someone who talked a good game. I don't ever want to go down that road again. It turned out not to be good for those horses. I never want to make that kind of mistake again with any of my horses, let alone a horse as special as Rhythm. Legs and I both needed this to be just the right home.

So now I've got the horse all loaded and he's even standing nicely in the trailer. None of the usual screaming or pawing, he's being pretty near a perfect gentleman. Even stretching things out making a trip to the bathroom and leaving him standing didn't push his buttons. I was running out of tricks. Could Rhythm hold out with the princely behavior until they were gone, I sure hoped not!

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

Now this is Rhythm at my 2006 open house showing his true colors. But Harry can handle this and actually really likes the horses when they behave this way. The horse came in and out like a perfect gentleman.

Rhytm's Story - The Park

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