#8 - The Dream Team - Danny & Blitz
After my first year of college, my trainer had moved back to California and I was on my own horse adventure for the very first time. I ended up with the only one of Lucy’s foals that hadn’t been sold. Cal-O-Tana (Danny) came to live with me as a 2 year old. My plan was to pair this Arabian gelding, whom I would ride English, with a quarter horse gelding for western events. I bought Blitz, a palomino 2 year old stud colt from a rancher in the Missouri Breaks. He was registered and had been running with the herd his entire life. We stopped at the veterinary clinic on our way home to have him gelded. Danny and Blitz were going to be my “dream team.” I would train and show them as a way to build my reputation in the horse business and attract more clients for lessons and training.
That summer I had a glimpse into my future with my dream team when I took both geldings to a horse show and entered them in halter classes. They really looked beautiful and were so well-mannered.
I started riding Danny and had him coming along nicely. I had done some groundwork with Blitz and thought it was a good time to start riding him as well. Unfortunately, I had not done enough and cut corners to save time to get to the fun of riding. The first time I climbed aboard he promptly bucked me off. I landed hard, but got back on and sat on him for a few minutes. It turns out that my back was fractured from my fall, which ended my horse training for the remainder of the summer.
I spent the next 6 months in a back brace, fell in love with my future husband and started to broaden my horizons to develop interests in other activities. After my parents took care of my dream team through the winter while I was off at college, they had a talk with me. They asked me to consider selling the horses or taking them with me to college. I discussed my options with my fiance and he asked me why I wanted to keep them. My response was, “I like winning.” That settled it. My desire to have my horses was no longer enough to warrant the cost, time and effort it took to keep them. Somehow throughout the years of training and showing, I had lost the love, the yearning to have horses in my life.
My first riding teacher had a barn in the same town as my college, so I left Danny with her. I just told her to give him to a deserving rider. I hauled Blitz to the horse sale and auctioned him off. I don’t remember feeling anything but relief when I said goodbye to my dream team.
Looking back on my experience with Danny and Blitz, here are the lessons that I learned:
Don’t disregard the importance of groundwork. Even today if I’m riding a horse and I don’t feel safe, I dismount and go back to the basics. Groundwork is the foundation to a harmonious partnership.
Know when to let go. When I had the realization that horses were no longer my passion, I said goodbye.
Be choosy about where your horses go when it’s time to say goodbye. I was conditioned to detach emotionally and easily say goodbye to horses. That was the world of a horse trainer. For years I had stuffed my feelings down until I no longer had them. However, every horse deserves a loving home where they are welcomed and understood. I now know that finding the right person for each horse is essential.
