Subject: [RC] Nick Warhol- Press Release-
Warpaint retiring!
Press Release, Hayward, California Nachi Sunshine to
Retire September, 2003
Warpaint, the wonder endurance Appaloosa, is
retiring from endurance at the end of the 2003 ride season. This day
had to come, it's just part of life when we have friends and animals that
grow older. It is a good time to stop- he'll be twenty years old
soon, and has been ridden hard ever since he was six years old. But
that's okay, that has always been his life- going down the trail, hard and
fast.
Warpaint came into our lives in 1990, thanks to our dear friend
Jean Schreiber, who I still hold responsible for what has happened to
my life. She helped me find a first horse for my wife Judy, and who
would have ever guessed we would have ended up with a horse like
this? Warpaint is one of those double whorled horses, and that is supposed
to make him "gifted, but difficult." Yes, those three words are the
best explanation for this horse. His life has always been about going
fast. He really believes that there is no reason in the world to do
anything other than going flat out, as often as he can, for as long as he
can. The perfect endurance horse!
We almost lost him in 1994
when he developed enteroliths, those softball size stones that develop in
the horse's intestines. He recovered from the surgery to
continue doing rides. He had to, there was no other option! He
has come back from several potentially career ending injuries over the
years, we often liked to joke that he always took the summer off due to one
injury or another. But he would not stop coming back. He
couldn't. Not him.
He's an Appy that did not realize it,
he thinks he's a Thoroughbred, or an Arab, or some combination of the
two. He truly believes that it's just not right for there to be a
horse in front of him, anywhere, for any reason, ever, period. A lot
of horses like to catch the horse in front of them, but then are not sure
what to do. Warpaint? He knows. His mission is to leave them
ten miles back, and as quickly as possible. The perfect endurance
horse!
Thee are too many stories, too many incredible rides, too many
amazing things that this horse has done, for me to begin to list
here. Three for five at Tevis, Race of Champions, many 100's
and multidays, several Appy association awards, the first horse and rider
to reach 1000 miles at the Death Valley ride. He's never won a race,
(third, though, and many top tens), mostly because we never let him.
We've shown him for BC a few times, but it's pretty comical to see the big
nosed, spotted wonder trying to out show the incredible Arabs. He's
still trying to pass them while they are trotting out!
I'll be
taking him to the AERC Championship ride in October, then to the Las Vegas
three-day ride over the Thanksgiving weekend, which will be his last
ride. We need two more completions to get him to 4000 miles, which
will be a nice place to stop. (He'll make it to 4100, I'm sure) If
all goes as planned, I'll have a little retirement party for him in Las
Vegas; that's appropriate enough, seeing as how I grew up there, and still
get a real kick out of riding in the area. Be sure to stop
by and say hi to him, he'll either be eating, or wishing the stupid
ride would start, already!
It has been so much fun to ride him, and
to be able to share his adventures with everyone. It's so neat-
everyone knows him: riders, vets, and the best is when people I don't even
know who come up and ask if that's Warpaint, or better yet, they say "That
MUST be Warpaint!" Yes, that's Warpaint, the one and only wonder
Appaloosa. The trails of the West just won't seem the same with him
not out there.
Nick Warhol Hayward, Ca.
PS:
Not to worry, there will still be stories to come, but they won't be the
same without Nachi Sunshine. Stay tuned, though, as I am
going to write a book about him, and will share it with the endurance
and Ridecamp community that has meant so much to Judy and I over the
years.
