I saw a quote in my new Whole Living magazine (http://www.wholeliving.com/) that arrived today that made me grin to myself, “The upside of grand failures: They make great stories.” If that is the case, it is no wonder that I started a blog about my riding experiences. Oh yes, there is some success in the mix, but it seems like the small victories come after I’ve failed in some miserable and usually public way.
Apparently, I am a magnet for special-needs animals who are experts at humbling me. Anyone who knows Cigar knows that he relishes his misbehavior and naughtiness even in retirement. He just recently ripped the hot wire off the fence when he realized it wasn’t working. My dogs are no exception. My therapy dog Tim was pretty easy to train, but chose to relieve himself on the bag of expensive dog treats with the entire class and instructor watching. My old hound dog had me chasing after her around the neighborhood while wearing 4 inch heel boots – my future husband dubbed them my jogging boots. My newest canine addition Spencer? He barked and lunged at every dog at the local dog parade and in his Obedience 101 class. We dropped out of the class since we were more of a distraction to the other dogs who were trying to learn. I was so proud.
And Ike? Well he is quickly earning a reputation as “challenging to load” and “frequent no-show” at clinics. Great. I was hoping for a reputation as “a talented, young horse with great potential to move up the levels.” At least we can entertain the blog readers with our misadventures and hope for a better performance tomorrow.
Ike had the day off to enjoy the weather, recover from the vet visit, and because I worked all day and had the commute from he_ _ to get home this afternoon. Back to work tomorrow. Three days to practice loading and get some saddle time before our Training Level debut on Sunday. Just breathe, Alison, breathe.
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I am very much enjoying your blog. I used to ride years ago and did some training level dressage tests, but I don’t ride any more. I keep in touch with horses and their people as much as I can. Thanks for writing!
Thanks for reading and commenting! I barely made it out of Training Level with my other horse…hoping Ike can go further, but it will be a heck of a riding getting there!
You’re welcome. You got me remembering some of my own riding incidents. I wrote one today on my WordPress blog, https://feistylynnie.wordpress.com/2012/05/17/the-dressage-rodeo-lesson-8/ It’s about a very weird first dressage lesson with a new teacher. Needless to say, I found another teacher after that!
By the way, I’m sure that your Cigar isn’t THE CIGAR that was so famous.. right?
If only! No he is not the famous Cigar – my boy raced under the name HiHoSky in Tampa and Charlestown. 51 starts, a few wins with lifetime earnings of $42K – not quite close to the $10 million THE Cigar won for his connections.
Ahh, thanks. Now I had to look him up. I guess Cigar’s probably happy in his retirement. Unfortunately, after 36 mares, he was found to be infertile, poor guy. That’s why I haven’t seen any Cigar babies on the track yet. Now I’m waiting for Rachel Alexandra’s and Zenyatta’s colts to see what they can do. Fun to follow their Facebook pages. Anyway, here is the blurb on Cigar.
“Cigar was retired to stud at the end of the 1996 racing season by celebrity Bill Cosby. Ceremonies took place during the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden to honor the horse.
Paulson sold 75% of Cigar to Coolmore Stud and Michael Tabor, and this equated to a value of $25 million for him. He was taken to stand at the Ashford Stud, the American division of Coolmore Stud, and began his coverings there in February. Cigar proved infertile as a stallion after twenty of his thirty-six mares returned negative pregnancy tests.[10]”