Wednesday, April 13, 2016

History

Horse shows are a pain.  With two overnight shows coming up in May and June, entry forms are flying out fast and furious along with a heck of a lot of money.  This includes all of the fun paperwork around membership cards and vaccinations (Coggins, rabies, rhino, and flu, wtf).  I needed my Coggins emailed to me and for that to happen, I had to pay off my balance from the spring vaccinations and bloodwork.

On a side note, Theo's vitamin E and selenium counts are totally normal, so yay!  He is also negative on two Lyme titers but elevated on the third, so he's going to get a retest in four weeks to confirm that he's Lyme negative.  So mostly yay!

I called up the vet and told them that I needed my Coggins.  She asked my name, looked me up, and then got excited.  Theo!  That used to be her horse!

Yup, I got the vet's wife on the phone, Theo's owner before Trainer R got him.  The one he tossed and broke back in the dark days of his youth when he was mostly known for his athletic buck.  I immediately started making incoherently squealing sounds about how good he was doing and how he was going to go be a serious business dressage horse.  Turns out she's been stalking us on FB and loved seeing his progress and how he looks so different and strong now.  He's got the job he needs and he looks so much happier then when she tried to have him as a back yard, occasional work trail horse.

I did ask if he had a breeder and it turns out she got him cheap from some back yard situation.  No breeder, no papers.  So he is a random American Warmblood forever and ever.  I'll admit, I was a bit disappointed.  I'd hoped that he had papers and a breeder back there somewhere, but nope.  He's a random mutt draft cross.  One day I'll have a horse with a pedigree.  One day.

Once I got off the phone (much more broke then when I started the phone call), I got a text from Trainer A and a picture.


This made me so proud.  The lady in the picture is one of the adult ladies I ride with on Wednesday nights.  She had a bad fall off of Miss Thang and broke her arm in November.  Today was her first ride back and Trainer A borrowed Theo for it  She gave him his weekly training ride ahead of time to stack the deck even more in my friend's favor and then he carried my friend around like a total champ.  He is the king of steady, adult beginner friendly lunge horse-ing.

How far you have come from being the black sheep wild child that was known more for his creative tossing of students then his steady temperament, mi papi.  Clearly having a job agrees with you.

3 comments:

  1. I feel you on the disappointment of the lack of history. I know my guy was picked up as a 2 year old in the parking lot of an auction yard. I tried DNA testing hoping for some information but sadly didn't get any results.

    It is awesome that he can be used as a confidence builder like that. And good luck at your shows!

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  2. I love stories like that!!! My first pony was some bay mutt thing that was named Soda Pop bc he bucked everyone off! When my mom bought him he had been renamed Joker and he carted my butt around and turned into the best beginner lesson pony ever- we did run into a lady while out fox hunting that knew him as Soda Pop and she was thrilled to see him carting around a 9 year old on a hunt :)

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    1. I should add that Joker was 18 by the time I got him and he started teaching kids how to ride. He did live to a ripe old age of 36 though!

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