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[RC] The Little Horse that Would - Ridecamp GuestPlease Reply to: Lynn White LYNNDEEPOO@xxxxxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ========================================== I?d like to write about the little horse that got me started in Endurance riding. I?ve been participating in endurance for five seasons now, and it seems like someone is always writing an article about some super-horse that has thousands of miles with nineteen million top tens and more BC?s than Carter has Little-Liver-Pills. These horses are special, as they have the talent and the heart for this sport. My story is not about one of those horses. This is about one of those horses that has heart and courage but is handicapped by terrible conformation. This was also my first horse. My first horse experience was at the age of four when my equine-phobic mom led me around on some huge black horse named Inky. I was obsessed with horses from then on. I rode every chance I got, which was at best infrequent since my parents had lost a child to an accident and considered horses dangerous. I grew up in a large metropolitan area doing the usual ?safe? things like high school track, swimming, and soccer. I got an engineering degree, got married, had two kids, started a career, and moved more times than I care to count. We finally settled here in a small town in Idaho. I recall telling my husband that he did not want to live with me if I turned 40 and did not have a horse. I bought Pi when I was 39. After riding and grooming everybody else?s horses for 30 years one gets pretty opinionated about horse breeds, or so they think. I worked with just about every breed that can be found here in the USA. The only horse that really scared the crap out of me was a cooped up Arabian stallion. So I decided that I did not want an Arabian. One thing that I did know was that you can be an expert rider, but until you have actually owned a horse you don?t know squat about really taking care of one. It?s kind of like living in rental homes: Things like leaky roofs, water softeners, and water heaters are things you just don?t worry about because you are not responsible for them. For my first horse I decided on a middle-aged well broke horse that my kids could ride if they got interested. I responded to an add in the paper and looked at this 13 year old 14-hand grade mare. She was indeed well broke and had a really nice spirit. So I had her vet checked, brought her home, and named her ?Pi? after the sorrel horse the Jimmy Stewart rode in most of his westerns. I figured that she was probably some kid?s ranch pony because she neck reined so well and was really cowy. I didn?t figure that she was a worn out cow pony that someone had taken advantage of and worked way too hard. I started trail riding with some people who did endurance. The only thing I knew about endurance was that it was a sport were people rode their horses a long way fast. On our trail rides, my little mare Pi was a real go-getter and seemed to just eat up the trails. She had no trouble keeping up with the conditioned endurance horses. She wasn?t afraid of anything and even went after barking dogs if I pointed her at them. On the last ride that I ever rode in jeans I remember riding 35 miles and trotted most of the way. My legs were raw and I could barely walk, but that was darn fun. I decided to take a shot at this endurance thing and entered Pi in an LD ride. Who can forget their first endurance ride? For me, it was the first time I towed a horse trailer, first time I backed a horse trailer, and the first time I experienced rush hour traffic in Boise. After a sleepless night, Pi and I were trotting off with our ensemble of mismatched nylon tack, the saddle I bought from a pawnshop, and the pair of gloriously out-of-fashion leisure leggings from the thrift store. From that day on, I was an endurance junkie. We completed two more LD rides that season, and got pulled on our last ride (came in first and then were promptly pulled for lameness). I guess Pi?s navicular was catching up on her. Pi was never really a smooth horse to ride. She had all the conformational earmarks of a horse prone to navicular. She always had this short choppy little trot. My husband said that her front legs looked like little pistons whacking the ground. Had I known what I know now I would have never bought her. She was probably the most conformationally unsuitable horse for endurance that I have ever seen. But she had guts and courage and she loved to be out doing things. She was darn fun to ride. By the end of the 2001 season I realized that Pi just wasn?t built for endurance so I started another horse. I still kept trail riding Pi because she was relaxing compared to the psycho-mare that I was starting. But eventually I quit riding Pi altogether because she became arthritic in her hips and was dangerously stumbly. If she ever laid down, it took everything she had to get up, and it was heartbreaking to watch her struggle. Her back feet were worn straight across because she dragged them. Anyone who has arthritic joints knows how painful it can be in the cold. Since the cold weather was so hard on her I decided to let her have one more summer in the pasture and then I would euthanize her when the cold got to her joints. I just did not want to see her out there lying on the cold ground unable to get up. I still kept her feet trimmed and wormed, because she still needed and deserved good care. Last week I put Pi down. I am sure that she is out there in that part of heaven reserved for courageous little horses, and is painlessly chasing dogs and running around. I hope that I gave her six years of a good life. Some times when I am riding out alone on an endurance ride I think back to what started me in this sport. Pi was that special horse who ignited my passion for being out on a horse. She patiently put up will all the stupid things people new to horse ownership unwittingly do to their horses. She only had 75 LD miles, but it?s as good as 1000 in my book. Had she been able, I am sure she would have gladly taken me that far. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
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