Recently, my good friend Suzy lost her lovely mare and soul mate Bree. This was a terrible and untimely loss of a mare still competing and in her prime. Bree was never an easy horse to ride, but Suzy and her trainer Lauren (also Suzy’s sister in law and my dear friend) worked hard and moved Suzy and Bree up the levels. Bree eventually became a competitive PSG horse and helped Suzy earn her Silver Medal. But when I heard that Bree died, after feeling heartbreak for Suzy, I immediately started remembering all of the wonderful things about Bree that had very little to do with her show career. In essence Bree was a good horse and we are all so lucky when we have a good horse cross our paths.
Even when Bree was young and a little difficult to get on the bit, she was safe and kind. She might have made her riders sweat, but she never worried them or made them think that they would be safer on the ground. I owe Bree a debt of gratitude for, on more occasions than I can count, safely escorting me on a trail ride or around a new show grounds while I rode some young and explosive animal. Lauren and Bree stoically accompanied me on my first Florida trail ride when my horse Camillo was young and “snorty”. When one of my training horses was merrily leaping around a warmup ring at his first show, it was Suzy and Bree who calmly stayed to babysit while others fled. Bree was often in demand as a companion or an escort at shows all over our region. I hope that I remembered to thank Bree enough for all the many times that she saved me by simply being her sane and rational self, and not letting the insanity of another horse provoke her to foolishness.
Most of our horses are good and kind. They are remarkably gentle with our children and make friends with our dogs and cats. They allow us to ride them and to convince them to do things that they would never think to do themselves. They allow us to put them in trailers and take them on trail rides. But there are some very special horses out there who not only allow all of this, but actually help us to train other younger or more explosive horses to become civilized, and cope with training and showing environments. Sometimes these horses are not the fanciest horses and don’t always make it into CDIs or show up on the cover of magazines, but they are just as special as their more famous peers.
A couple of weeks ago I was chatting with a friend about how she gets all of her horses to trail ride so well. She told me that she often takes the very young horses at her farm out for trails by ponying them off an older, quieter horse – often a laid back gelding who doesn’t mind being bumped into a few times. Her story reminded me of how may horses I taught to trail ride by taking them out with my gentle giant Hesse. Hesse had rules about trail riding that included – only walking, never bolting, and not rudely passing the horse in front of you. When we had a “bolter” in our midst, Hesse would walk calmly next to and just a hair in front of him. All would seem fine and then all of a sudden the “bolter” would telegraph his intention to make a run for it. Hesse would pin his ears and wheel on the horse, making him step back. Then Hesse would carry on with his trail ride as if nothing had happened. Hesse’s training method was much more effective than anything I could have thought of.
The first horse I ever leased was a holy terror of a large pony named Bones. Sometimes (ok often) Bones would become so annoyed with me that we would have to stop a lesson, take off all of his tack, and allow him to run around like a wild man to vent his frustration. But Bones had a secret talent as a therapeutic horse. Both before I competed him, and later on in retirement, Bones was used as a therapeutic horse. He had unlimited patients for his riders who faced huge physical or mental challenges. However, if an able-bodied person should happen to get on, Bones would feel free to leap and buck – how did he know?
My student Nita has a fancy German Riding Pony, named Cashew, who babysits all of the other horses in Florida turnout. Without him everyone runs when the palm trees blow. But when Cashew keeps eating and says that he isn’t worried about the silly trees, there is peace once again in the kingdom. What would we do without the Brees, Hesses, Bones, and Cashews of this world?
So now as I remember Bree, I will also remember all of the good horses who have made my life as a rider and trainer just a little bit safer and more bearable. I will remember to give extra carrots to all of the good horses who are still here.
Please share your stories or photos of Bree or of a Good Horse in your life.
P