Horse Blog

Other breeds have had their problems; the Foundation Morgan Horse movement was founded in an effort to save rare, pure bloodlines without the popular "show lines", which have been found to contain legal and illegal crosses to Saddlebreds and Hackneys in an effort to produce high-stepping gaits and "hooky" Loch Ness monster necks for the show ring. Over 2/3 of Morgans now trace back to Upwey Ben Don and Upwey King Peavine. These Saddlebred crosses were legal at the time under the registry rules, but many, many breeders concentrate that blood until the original type is all but lost.

Today, my sister calls me. She’s got 2 horses for sale, one of whom is white and Willow size. She really wants me to buy these horses. She’s trying to talk me into letting her talk to Willow (umm, hell no, I know you’re gonna ask her if she wants a pony) , and I hear my niece in the background say “Ask Willow if she wants a white horse with blue ears!”

Charri meant a horse show and they were in it. Boy, were they so excited. They made it sound as if it was 1 minute even though it was 3 miles. They talked a lot along the way. When the girls got there, it was so big it took 4 days to walk from one end to the other.

Dave in Texas reminded me that he wanted cowboy boots as well. It's been a long time since I was in Texas, so I don't know what kind of fashion trends cowboys down there are into. Here in Fabulous Las Vegas we get the National Finals Rodeo every year (a big deal from what I understand) and it draws the best of the best from all over the country. I expect that they are fairly representative of the modern cowboy. Anyway, here's what most of them were wearing.

We closed on Friday and started moving in that night. I spent the weekend moving all of our crap with the help of Carly’s family. Being that it is Kerrville, Texas what do you think we used to move all of our stuff? Yep, a horse trailer…complete with remnants of barn yard animal feces. The smell was delightful. The in-laws and Carly’s sister and nephew were a huge help though and I am super grateful and appreciative of their help.

I noticed during the Derby Daze that while much is made of a horse's sire, his dam is seldom discussed. I'm not sure why that is, and I fear I'll never understand all of the subtle nuances of pedigree handicapping (though perhaps if I ever pick up Lauren Stitch's book Pedigree Handicapping, I might get a handle on that 2x4 stuff that often appears over at Left at the Gate.)

I always enjoy the Kentucky Derby, not that I’m any great judge of horseflesh. I’m not above dropping a few bucks on the ponies, and don’t get much of a chance to do it any more. SWMBO likes horse racing too, and as pleasant as her company is, women and men just bet differently. She can’t read a racing form; I can. I never notice cleverly-named horses; she does. I never notice the colors of the jockey’s silks; she does. She never bets to win; I do.

Several direct connects later, the pasture was filled with family members, each with rope and soap and light. Cowboys we ain’t! We herded that cow ‘round and ‘round that pasture. She eluded every toss of the lasso. Finally the loop went around that cow’s neck. Three of us held tight as that heifer dragged us around. Someone finally lassoed her legs, and with many great tugs, she finally succumbed to the ground. I was then instructed to “soap up.” I found out that liquid soap acts as a lubricant for hands and arms while pulling a calf from a womb. Nasty just doesn’t seem to describe the moment.

If you move back to Calgary you obviously have to be prepared to try to find the things that Calgary has, specifically, to offer, and exploit those aspects of life here, mercilessly. (I.e. suck it up and get a cowboy hat, etc.) Otherwise you'll go nuts missing Toronto and castigating Calgary for being so... not Toronto. In so many ways.

Fun little Bricks to Krops ride. Hooked up with Adam, Mike and Grant at 1900. We all enjoyed looking at the mods to Grant’s and Russ’ bikes. Isn’t fun to show mods to your bike buds? TWR at 1930 in Cowboy Hat. A little experiment in headgear for the ride of rides. I figured cowboys wear cowboy hats and they ride horses that go much faster than bikes. Wind on the brim was an issue but not really so bad. Rolled into Krops at 2000. The guys went in for drinks and snacks while I guarded bikes.

I still plan on getting back into endurance riding. I attempted to start up some sort of training schedule back last october, but my injuries from the car accident were still too raw. Plus, my main man, “Junior/Jay” (Shah Hameer - bay arabian gelding) is starting to look his age a bit. He’s 17 years old this year…hard to believe. I may not get the pleasure of his company on any of the tougher rides I would like to accomplish in the future.

I went to my very first horse show this weekend. Horse Whisperer competed in the Region 7 Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, taking home several ribbons along the way. I didn’t know what to expect - maybe boys spitting chewing tobacco on my shoes and older women showing me the roses tattooed on their boobs.