Baby Boomer Dreams - Dandy's Story

Up until now I have been telling the story of Rachel and Grandma and an Arabian Horse but I haven't really told the history of that horse. I did tell about his birth in Baby Boomer Dreams but life took a twist when my daughter, Lindsay, was diagnosed brain cancer. That twist affected my dreams and the story went off in that direction pretty much leaving this horse behind.

My story with Arabian horses, however, cannot truly be told with telling the story of this particular horse. So much of what I know today I've learned because of the journey with the first Arabian horse I ever bred, Scandal Sheet (Dandy). It would be a mistake not to take you along that journey with me. It explains a lot about the horse and about the horse woman I have become.

In addition to being the first horse I ever breed, Dandy was the very first horse I started under saddle. I had seen a number of young horses started during my stint working at Feature Farm as a groom. I'd made friends with one of the assistant trainers there as well. She is the one who's brain I picked as I started down the road of training a young horse.

Even from that first foal, I have always done a lot to desensitize my young horses. Working at Feature Farm where they were always protecting horses from things that might scare them, that just didn't make much sense to me. Then with having had the problems of Scandalous running off that I was told were all my fault, I had a good healthy respect for teaching foals as soon as possible to deal with things in their environment.

By the time I finally put a surcingle on Dandy's back, he wasn't bothered by it in the least. I remember the horse was only two when I first began the process of biting him up and longing him. My assistant trainer friend assured me it would be helpful in teaching the horse how to give to pressure without having to deal with someone on his back and it would make things easier once I was ready to ride.

Actually when I think back on that first time I actually tried this process, I think about how lucky I was that Dandy was such a willing horse. He just took the whole thing in stride even though I didn't know that much about what I was doing.

I did know enough to start the horse out gradually. But gradually then and gradually now are definitely not the same thing. I didn't have a round pen. I began working the horse in the big open field behind our house. He had been taught to longe when he was a yearling, so the did know how to work around me in a circle.

I remember starting out tying the reins loosely to the surcingle and just letting them dangle. I wanted the horse to get used to them without getting pressure on his mouth. After a few laps of longing, I shortened up those reins a bit, a few more laps and a bit more shortening. Dandy was a good sport and rounded up without protest. Today I think someone should have come along and kicked me in the head for pushing too much to soon. Thankfully my horse was able to handle my inexperience.

However, I didn't push riding the horse at all. I think I spent two full years working this horse from the ground. Most of the time I bitted him up and longed him and sometimes I used the long lines.

In those early days I remember my frustration with those darn long lines wrapping around my legs, tripping me or just plain tying me up. Dandy was a champ about that too. I can't tell you how many times I hollered "Whoa!" to save myself from being dragged off because I was such a klutz with those darn lines. Never once was I in jeopardy, the horse took care of me each and every time.

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

Part 2

In this picture, Dandy is hiding behind our pump house from his older brother, Aidol.

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