So It's about a month since we put down Flossie? Since then I've been
through many changes. Some good some no so good. I won't bore y'all with
the more devastating of them, but things are looking up. Before I go
further as I left I wasn't too sure about what I'd be doing. I think Rose
forwarded a story about The Rebel Prince and his little endurance ride
this weekend.
I'm definately looking forward to the Lancaster Halloween Horror Endurance
ride. I'm only doing the first day. Can y'all believe that it's already
been over a year and a half since I last bombarded you with The Rebel Prince
endurance news? Sheeze! Anyway That's this coming weekend. We're riding
Saturday. Breck is tagging along. Bringing Shannon as well. So both Rebel
and I will have sidekicks with us. :)
Ok Gang what comes next doesn't really affect my plans for a new
sporthorse and TB broodmare making little Oldenburgs (that's where
Flossie's filly apparantly racing now comes in.)
AND NOW FOR THE BIG NEWS...
Rosemary and I adopted a Mustang yesterday. Well I'd told y'all I've been
relentlessly searching for a project horse in the endurance field. Yep I
got one. She's a 2 y.o. filly. Captured last July and passed BLM vetting
on my very birthday. (KISMET?) I checked out the arrivals when the BLM
wild horse manager brought them in on Friday to the mid-state fairgrounds.
This one was the one that jumped out at me. Our eyes meet while I was
doing my conformation checks (not so easy on wild horses) on the over 80
ponies and horses. She just never took her eyes off me. She stood a good
bit higher then the rest of the fillies with which she was corralled. I'd
guess she's, oh 14.2.
She was captured near Eureka, Nv. There's a BLM horse snactuary close to
there in Nye county. The elevation there is high ranging between 7 and 10
thousand feet. CAN YOU SAY TEVIS CANDIDATE? Her back is longer then most
Mustangs. I guess after years of retraining TB racehorses I just can bear
to look at a short backed beast. Her neck is very much prototypical
mustang, short and stocky. Her face looks like a mini version of
Celestial Trail's. Black bay, roman nosed and soft black eyes with no
white about the pupils. She's beautiful.
Cyndie and I began the gentling process yesterday. Gee, it really does
work the same as with a domestic horse, just more time consuming. Almost
every horse I've ever green-broke with or without Cyndie had been
imprinted from birth so I guess the very term green-broke is a misnomer.
Herd beasts are herd beasts so the same techniques of "gentleing" seem to
work. Anyway the only time this horse has ever been handled by humans is
when they gave her her shots and coggins tested her.
Right now we have her to the point where we can touch her, get her to
"join up" with us, but she's not yet ready for us to remove the halter.
Obviously I don't know all that much about the breed yet. If it were a TB
we could mount her in a jockey seat now. If she were an Arab it would be
a good long two years away. Then it would take a lighter rider then I. I
imagine, most probably, it'll take similar parameters. These creatures
are, after all, descendants of Spanish Barbs. Mixed, along the way, with
all sorts of other blood. Whatever escaped or found themselves abandoned
since Pizzaro and his pals brought them over.
So I'm cutting this short and I'm out the door headed for the barn. I'm
taking a copy of Crime and Punishment with me and a director's chair. For
today I'm just going to read to her about our friend Raskolnikov. Let her
get used to me and the sound of my voice. Hey this is fun!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tommy Crockett~Los Osos, California USA~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~tomydore@goblin.punk.net~~DAMS028%CALPOLY.BITNET.cmsa.berkeley.edu~