Re: Virl Norton

[Chaco L <ChacoL@aol.com>]

In a message dated 98-03-23 17:07:23 EST, sshaw@pacbell.net writes:

>  Virl always had 
>  good horses. I don't know if that was because he traded so many or if he 
>  had an eye for the best. He had a bevy of riders that worked them out. 
>  He always had a horse for sale. There were always four things you could 
>  get from Virl, good competition, good advice, a good horse or a good 
>  yarn. 
>  
>  Anybody out there buy one of his horses or race them?

Yes!

We bought LRAC Zarfix from him in 1990--a 10-year-old gelding that Virl swore
could do Tevis for us that very year (yeah sure, we said to ourselves, what
horsetrader wouldn't say that).  Well, he was right!  We discovered later that
this horse had already done Tevis several times, once with a weight of well
over 200 pounds.

So here I was on Virl's horse the day before Tevis after riding him for the
first time in May of that year.  He was a really mellow guy, no doubt a
product of many, many endurance miles with lots of different riders.  Riding
around camp, he suddenly shied violently and nearly wiped out some people
walking by.  I looked around to see what monster could possibly fluff him up
this much, and spied a gray Arab, tied to a trailer, sporting a very fine set
of painted-on zebra stripes!

Now I don't think most horses would recognize zebra stripes, but most horses
hadn't lived with Virl's zebras.  These critters had a reputation for hanging
out along the fenceline in order to reach through the wires and grab a
mouthful of Arab leg and try to drag the hapless horse through (or so we were
told).

Anyway, Zar snorted a bunch and we got the heck away from the pseudo-zebra,
but the next day, when this guy passed us on the trail, Zar never flicked an
ear.   It seems that horses judge by smell over sight, as long as the creature
is within smelling distance.

Steve, it was nice to be reminded of Virl.  Thanks for your post.

Linda
San Francisco