a short story of hope

["Visions of the Wind" <wind@visionsofthewind.com>]

This is just a short story to let folks know that sometimes when a horse
seems beyond hope for endurance, they may not be!

I bought a 4 yr old stallion about 4= years ago. When I bought him, he had
hardly been handled at all. He grew up in a stall being turned out no more
than once a week in a small 100'x100' turnout pen. He never wanted for food,
water, vet care, or farrier care, but he knew no love. When I met him, he
would bite, kick, and smash you against the wall or run right over the top
of you. Despite all this, I saw what I believed to be a good heart in this
horse. He wasn't for sale, but I convinced the owners to sell him to me.
Part of the conditions of the sale were that I should show him and that they
retained a few breedings.

I spent the first year with him showing him at halter, western pleasure,
hunter pleasure, costume, and liberty (AFTER teaching him some manners).
When I had owned him for almost a year, I decided to try an LD ride on him.
He did okay, but didn't behave the way any of the other horses that I had
ridden endurance on had. I continued to work with him, and a year later we
did another LD. This time he did much better...

One month later, I took him on his first real ride. It was the 1998 Old
Pueblo 60. It was cold, windy, and mountainous. He screamed almost all night
long. We finished second to last after over 10 hours, but we finished. AND I
had a lot of horse left. Barney Fleming told me that I hadn't ridden "that
horse" fast enough or far enough...

We didn't compete any more that year as we were moving to another state and
had other priorities. This year, we tried to do a ride in the spring, a 75
miler, but pulled after 50 miles due to a sore back. After a long summer of
training and conditioning with our new Sport Saddle, we attempted another
ride this past weekend. We went to the Sugar Valley ride in Scottsbluff
Nebraska (great ride!) and completed the 50 mile ride in 6 hours and 49
minutes. We were top ten, but since there were less than 10 people in the
50, that's not really saying much! ;-)

The point of this is, this horse started out as a nasty, yet lazy, brainless
idiot. Cute, but brainless. This weekend, this same horse started a ride in
nothing but a sidepull, completed the ride in the sidepull, and finished
looking as if he was ready to either walk into the show ring or to play
pony-ride horsie for the neighborhood kids. He still "talks" a little in
camp, but I think a few more rides will take care of that.

So don't give up on a horse that you believe may have what it takes. If I
went wholly by how Vic had done in the first two years that I had owned him,
I would never have had the enlightening experience that I had this weekend.
I am closer to my horse than ever before, and I believe that we have forged
a new chapter in our friendship that will be the beginning to a long and
happy endurance career!

Stephanie McCray
Visions of the Wind
11920 Spruce Canyon Cr.
Golden, CO 80403
303-642-7508
wind@visionsofthewind.com
http://www.visionsofthewind.com
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