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Re: [RC] Witezarif - heidi

Dick Dawson wrote:Â? "I trotted him out and she   (Deb Bennett)
immediatlyÂ?  said that I should buy the horse now as he was worth a
King's ransom.Â? I thenÂ?  showed her the record of the
horse that Donna Fitzgerald had campaigned,Â? his name was Witezarif and
he  had
been retired for at least a year.Â? Dr. Bennett then took multiple
pictures of him and stated that she had never seen a horse that moved
with such ease."


I had the privilege of starting the sport in time to see this wonderful
old horse.  He did indeed move wonderfully.


For those new to the sport, Witezarif and Donna won the Tevis Cup 5
times and  tied a 6th time. He won a bunch of Virginia City 100s and a
lot of other  rides. He was a phenomenal horse who I think lived to be
34 or maybe even 36.    Witezarif for all of his ability, did not win a
lot of Best Conditions.  If you knew the horse you understood why.   On
the trail he just flowed so  smoothly it would make your heart beat
faster to watch him, but once he arrived  at the vet stop, he totally
let down.   Just a laid back little bay horse that  acted half asleep.


Back then, we didn't have the scoring system that we do now, that factored
in recoveries, CRIs, etc.  I suspect he would have won a lot more BCs with
the current judging system.  Back then, it was all just the vet's
impression of how "up" the horse was when he moved out, and not much
more--so horses like Witezarif indeed didn't have much chance.


His joy was in movement, pure unbridled joy at going  down a trail.   He
never saw the importance of   wasting   much energy being  animated for
the vets. If I were to pick one horse that defined our sport at the
highest level it would be Witezarif.   He outshone anything else our
sport has  seen so far.   I have only seen one other horse in my
lifetime I thought moved  as freely as Witezarif.


And he did it all on plain hay, a little grain, and no electrolytes...

Heidi



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[RC] Witezarif, Marinera