Spring '97

"Would you be willing to sell Jones?" I asked my coach.

He looked at me assessingly, and quoted an amount I couldn't afford. Well, couldn't justify for a horse that I loved but who wouldn't really be able to do what I wanted. Jones was sweet, a tremendously trustworthy babysitter, and a cute little jumper in the ring, but probably limited to 3'. He was not a brave horse. We'd probably never be able to do a Novice course; I imagine I would be doing some Greener than Grass version of eventing forever. But I had taught him to jump and I loved him and I hated to leave him behind.

"He's useful to me here. Why would you want him when you could get something you could show more?"

My answer, "Because I love him," got me a funny look.

"Well, if you want him, that's my price."

I left the barn to meet with my friend J. I had groomed for her at her first Prelim 3 day a few years previous, and I could blame much of my interest in eventing in part on her.  I had read tons of horse care and competition books, read many magazines and knew that eventing seemed what I wanted, but she was the first real person I knew that actually did it. She was fun and brave and her event horse had been personality plus.

Unfortunately, her horse had colicked very badly and been euthanized mid-winter. Needing something to work with but not ready to commit her heart to looking for a prospect, she had bought a young, unbroke gelding in mid-March. She figured she could put training into him, listing him for sale the whole time, and make enough money for her summer horse plans.

She'd picked him up for a thousand from a friend who was pregnant and didn't have the time to work with such a greenie. That friend had gotten him in the fall from someone who still owed her for some other trade, and had this bay horse sitting around they had just gotten at a sale in Lexington.

His lineage was rather a matter of speculation. The story I got, filtered through at least four exchanges was that he was a pasture accident from Minnesota, where the owner's husband turned all the horses out to pasture while dealing with this wife's illness, and some of those horses were young colts. The dam was rather more likely a Thoroughbred. The sire was possibly a Swedish Warmblood or a Swedish/TB cross. The reality was he could have been anything. As a gelding his breeding doesn't really matter, how he performs does, but it would from a resale standpoint. Most people are willing to pay a bit more for a good European-warmblood cross than a mustang/Standardbred cross. 

As I turned into the drive, I spotted a gleaming bay grazing in the field. She only wants $1,500 for him? That was well under what my coach wanted for Jones. J said he was W/T/C and she had jumped him over some telephone poles. Obviously a much more likely competitor than Jones for what I wanted to do.

I started speculating; I could buy him and work with him through the summer, and decide if I liked him. J would have the money for her summer plans, I would have something to work with, and for only $1,500? I was halfway sold before I even met him. I parked my car and went to the house to see J.