April 2012

April 24, 2012: Window Shopping

Callaho Warmblood Stud is having its annual auction on June 30. A kind lady at the feed shop gave me a copy of the 2011 auction catalogue and I promptly fell in love with every single one of the beautiful horses proudly displayed in its shiny pages. A description of all the horses seemed to be summed up with "well", as in well-bred, well-trained, well-groomed and well-cared for. None of these except perhaps the latter would apply to any of my motley crew - with the definite addition of well-loved - and watching the videos accompanying the catalogue I couldn't help but drool at the effortless grace with which those muscled beauties threw themselves over jumps that looked to my inexperienced eye about the size of the Great Wall of China (I am a slight wimp when it comes to jumps).

So today I have once more been wistfully window shopping. Never mind the fact that this horse probably costs more than all of mine put together, I want her!

But I guess I don't want her so badly as I want a lot of other stuff... and this could be revealed in the reason for why I picked her instead of all the other pictures I looked at: In colour, if not conformation, she looks a lot like Skye.

I don't have a few hundred thousand bucks to spend on a talented horse; with my Jersey stud, Joyful Jerseys (there on the main menu, see?), I'm selling off some of my current cows so I can buy two superb heifers to use as foundation cows for Jesus's Jersey stud. I can't do that with my horses. I know I can't keep them all, it's unfair on the parents; Achilles and Dancer and possibly this year's two colts will probably be sold off to the best homes I can find... but I know for a fact that I'll cling onto Skye, Thunder and Arwen with all my heart (plus you would have to get past an irate pointe-shoe, pellet-gun wielding Rain if you wanted to drag Siobhanny away).

If my only goal in life was to get famous, get rich and sweep the ribbons, I'd sell everything I have and get my hands on the best warmblood I can. But it's not. Call me sentimental, call me soft, call me sappy, call me clichéd for all I care... but I wouldn't exchange Skye for a million warmbloods.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to have one. God willing, I hope there is one in my future, something big and sparkly with a jump like a waterbuck and the kind of big heart and stunning conformation that could take us to the top of the game, perhaps even international. I'd love to get my hands on a yearling and the guts to train her up to the best level myself - if I didn't do it myself it would be pointless. It must be something beautiful to train a horse to that kind of standard.

But the magnificent secret between the Lord and Skye and I is something even more beautiful, the sort of thing that you find only too rarely in our flawed world. And when we gallop, when her spirit blazes all around us, when heaven is close enough to touch, I wouldn't exchange it for anything.

That's not a well-bred face. It's not an aristocratic face, nothing that speaks of generations of equine royalty.  But it's a face that glows with courage and spirit, eyes you can get lost in, a star that shines in the darkest night. Fluffy with winter hair, bursting with generosity and heart and all the things that make a great horse.

In terms of conformation and training and breeding, Skye might not be a good horse. But she has all the attributes, and far more besides, of a great one. You can face infinity on a horse like this.