To ride dressage is to dance with your horse, equal partners in the delicate and sometimes difficult work of creating harmony and beauty.

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Warning: Romantic ramblings ahead

When I made arrangements to look at Stella, I had no idea what she looked like, just that the breeder thought she was likely to get taller than his other available young stock. And I wasn't that keen on getting a mare (I'm a self-described 'gelding person'), but it was hard to stifle the flame of hope that had been ignited about the possibility of getting another Morgan. You see, the best dancing partner I've ever had was a Morgan....

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I got Rogue Hills Galaxy (Axel) as a long yearling and we danced clear up through Prix St. George together before he moved to Texas to make another dressage rider's dreams come true (and help pay for our house). He was like a border collie in trying to figure out what I wanted and offering what he thought it was before I asked, and totally trustworthy.
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When I arrived to see Stella we were met by a group of three Morgan ponies at the gate in the run-in shed. Then the breeder motioned beyond them, and there at the back was a taller, more reserved, younger-looking horse – a black horse! You see, the first horse I ever had was a black mare....

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Johnnie Tonto was a Quarter Horse, solid black with no white markings. She was my pick from a group of horses my step-grandfather had for my step-brother and me to choose from when we moved from CA to Texas the summer after our sixth grade year. My brother chose a pinto that he named Little Joe after one of the mounts on Bonanza; I couldn't resist a "black beauty" after a childhood immersed in every horse book I could get my hands on and every pony and horse I was allowed to get my legs around. She loved to run and had one foal for me; she died from colic just before the start of my sophomore year of college.
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My mental math said Stella could very well be my last horse; a matching 'black mare' bookend to my first horse. The fact that she was the same breed as my best horse made her even more compelling. Then, when her breeder told me she was named Andromeda after the Galaxy, not the constellation as I was thinking, I had to fight the urge to think Stella just might be my destiny!

And now she is. 😍





3 comments:

A :-) said...

Seriously. She is SO beautiful. I think this was definitely meant to be :-)

Jeanne said...

I'm glad I signed on with "Dances..." I'm really excited at looking forward to witnessing your work with her!

Michelle said...

Me, too, A. 😁

She's definitely going to be a long-term project, Jeanne, but I think she's going to develop into a beautiful black swan! (I think she's pretty now, but she's also very much a "diamond-in-the-rough.")