The Horses

Katy has been blessed to have a succession of wonderful horses, they have all helped her in so many ways to become the rider she is now. We can begin with the 'babysitter” Buddie, who stood patiently while little 2 year old Katy learned to sit in the saddle. He was so good to be lead around behind our horses, teaching her balance. He eventually became too old and was retired to Caldwell Ranch, where he lived out his years in peace. Next was Bo, a great big thoroughbred/quarter horse cross loaned to us by our good friends, the Parkers, when she was four. He carried her many miles back and forth across the pasture, teaching her about loping and turning and stopping. He was too tall for her to dismount easily, so when she wanted off, he would stop and she would slide down the reins until she hit the ground! Bo was great and really was the one that she learned how to really ride on. After a year or so, he was returned to the Parkers, and is still munching grass in his old age. Katy has always been ready for faster, so her first competition horse was Aggie, a gentle grey quarter horse. He was only four when we got him from PawPaw, but he caught on fast and learned with Katy about barrels and poles and playdays . . . he might not have been the fastest but was always steady and helped her win her first year end high point buckle. She continued with him for two years, then decided he wasn't fast enough, so we incorporated Ol' Spook into the picture. For a while, she actually competed on both horses, as separate entries! Aggie has spent a leisurely year in the pasture, but now is down at roping school in Comanche, learning to become her breakaway roping horse, I'm sure he is not too happy about his current circumstances! On to Spook. Spook is a sorrel roping horse, our friend Dan "Bones" Whitehead owned. Long story short, PawPaw ended up with him, then on to us he came, with a hip injury that needed some work. Ol' Spook soon was ready to go, and even though he was like Eeyore in the pasture, moping about, he was all dancy and prancy and ready to go in the arena! I never though he much liked barrel racing or playday events, but he did them anyway and helped Katy earn her second belt buckle and many, many ribbons. . . the old hip injury finally got to him and he started acting up in the arena some, actually ran down the side once and knocked the timers down! Even so, he helped Katy learn to go faster and handle problems in the pen, valuable knowledge for any competitor, even the best horses have their days. We decided to retire him at the end of 2007, and he still mopes around in our pasture today, we get a real kick out of his funny personality. We all love Ol' Spook. Now to Aprisa. There are not enough words to describe how we feel about her. If there ever was a wonder horse, she is it. She is a race bred quarter horse, born and raised in New Mexico for racing. A big, beautiful bay mare . . . she is gorgeous! Again, through a long story, PawPaw ended up with her. She never did much on the track, and ended up in a pasture doing nothing for several years. Auntie Jana suggested her for Katy when we were looking for bigger and better, and I admit, I was a little leery about her. She didn't know how to do anything but rein just a little, no stop, no training to speak of. But Katy and I flew out to Kentucky and drove back with Jana and 7 year old Aprisa . . . and the rest, as they say, is history. Mark and I took about a year and worked with her, he got her going and I worked on the fine tuning. When we felt confident she was ready for Katy, we turned over the reins to those little 8 year old hands in January 2008. Together, they have learned to work as a team, and almost single handedly, Katy has trained her on barrels and poles, and other playday events. It was a hard year for Katy last year having to start over with a new horse, back at the bottom of the placings, but we kept encouraging her to push a little harder . . . her goal was to break 20 seconds on barrels that year and by the summer we had started going to jackpots and suddenly those times started falling. . . 19.8, 17.5, 16.8, 15.9. They finished last years season on a high note and have started this year at a dead run! Katy won her first saddle last month on Aprisa, running near record times in several events. Four 1st places out of 5 events. What can I say, that horse will do anything from bareback in the pasture to blazing fast times in the arena . . . she is our Scamper.

"We have almost forgotten how strange a thing it is that so huge and powerful and intelligent an animal as a horse should allow another, and far more feeble animal, to ride upon its back." Peter Gray, b. 1928