Aidol's Story....... Now a Three Year Old

Part 1

It was well into the Arabian horse's two year old year before the situation with his feet was coming along well enough to even attempt getting his feet done safely. By that time a new groom had come to work at the show barn and she'd fallen head over heels for Presley. It was beginning to look like both colts really would come out the other side of their terrible ordeal without residual damage.

In the late fall groundwork was started on Aidol. My friend, Linda, who was then working at the facitility as an assitant trainer, got the task of dealing with the horse. Her slow good natured manner made her a nice fit with this horse who had been so terrorized.

Before long Aidol was going along beautifully in the long lines looking happy to be having a job. Linda ran the lines like she would for any country english pleasure horse. The horse could get so big and bold we both thought that's what his job would be.

Around the turn of his three year old year, a new trainer to the barn got the job of actually getting up on Aidol's back. This trainer was also quiet and laid back with his horses like Linda so Aidol took to him easily. By this time the owner had decided that Aidol would make a great western pleasure horse. The horse's ground driving changed a bit but that didn't seem to phase the horse. He just took it all in stride and learned to carry a rider too.Aidol took to that job like he'd been doing it most of his life.

I posted about his brief but profitable show career in the beginning of the series Looking Back................ Aidol

All this time Dave watched Aidol grow up, he pretty much referred to him as "his horse" even though we didn't own the horse nor could we. I was still making payments on Scandalous. The year Aidol turned three was the year I finally got the contract on Scandalous paid off.

From the time the last payment was made, I began talking to Dave about maybe buying Aidol. Even though I had earned the money to pay for Scandalous myself, I never would have bought the mare without Dave's support. Now it seemed to me if he wanted Aidol I should step up and help him.

I think the whole idea of committing to another long term contract to pay for a horse overwhelmed Dave. It didn't matter that it was Aidol because in Dave's mind he was at the barn and he could see him whenever he wanted. I tried to warn him the horse was doing so well under saddle it probably wouldn't be long before the horse would be sold....... but that didn't seem to break through Dave's fear either............... talking about buying the horse was all we did.

When the Daffodil Futurity came along we were right there on the rail. Dave was like any nervous owner watching "his" horse from the rail. He was such a wreck I didn't even want to stand next to him. His behavior was so distracting I couldn't pay attention to the class.

I did manage to see that Aidol got both of his leads correctly. That was really the only problem it seemed the horse might have. He took to the traffic in this huge class like it was no big deal and he did his job every bit as well as he did at home. Aidol was definitely a star for a baby horse in his first ever class.

Dave was convinced that Aidol had won the class hands down. The funny thing is the horse could have bucked through the whole thing and Dave would still have believed the same thing. In his mind Aidol was the best horse in the world and he was convinced the judges SHOULD know that.

We were elated when Aidol was announced as the reserve champion. Even though I didn't know all of the big players in the class back then, I knew it was a big deal for this greeny gelding to have done so well. I knew there were horses with much more ring experience that Aidol had beaten.

Trying to make our way out of the arena to go great "our horse" as he exited the arena, I overheard people talking about the big flashy bay gelding. I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach because I knew that recognition meant Aidol would probably find a new home sooner than later. It was time to break through those defenses of Dave's so he didn't end up with a broken heart.

The trainers knew we were interested in the horse. That day at the show without even talking to Dave I went so far as to ask them to give me a first right of refusal........ which they agreed to do. That way the horse wouldn't be sold out from under us before I got Dave to understand he really could loose this horse he loved so much if he didn't act soon.

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

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