The FreeRepublic Saddle Club thread!

Free Republic has a lot of horse people that have found each other on other threads…. And since we all like to talk horses, how about a thread where it is not off-topic, but is THE topic?

This is a horse chat thread where we share ideas, ask for input from other horsemen, and talk about our riding and horse-keeping. We have a lot of different kinds of riders and horses, and a lot to share. In the previous threads we have had a great time talking through lessons, training, horse lamenesses, illnesses and pregnancies... and always sharing pictures and stories.

I always have a link to this thread on my profile page, so if you have something to say and can't find the thread in latest posts… look for it there and wake the thread up!

I also have a ping list for horse threads that are of interest, and Becky pings everyone most mornings. Let Becky (Paynoattentionmanbehindthecurtain) and/or me know if you would like to be on the ping list. As FreeRepublic is a political site, our politics and other issues will probably blend in…. There are many issues for horsemen that touch politics… land use, animal rights/abuse cases that make the news…. Legislation that might affect horse owners.

So... like the previous threads, this is intended as fun place to come and share stories, pictures, questions and chit-chat, unguided and unmoderated and that we come together here as friends. There are lots of ways of doing things and we all have our quirks, tricks and specialties that are neat to learn about.

New folk and occasional posters, jump right in and introduce yourselves, tell us about your horses, and post pictures if you've got them!

Hey ya'll, I just got a cool horse related story in an e-mail. It's from the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. It's long, but it's worth it....

The Destiny of Edgar Brown By Jeff C. Nauman

A chorus of "Amazing Grace" lifted skyward as the mourners gathered around the grave to pay their last respects. Edgar had lived a long life, eighty-eight years before the Lord called him home. Many stories of his life were told in the days and hours preceding Edgar's funeral in March 2002 and it was impossible to hear a story about him that did not involve his horses.

Edgar's life, most of which had been spent in the mountains of Montana, revolved around horses. After he and Jo married, they began raising cattle on the Helena valley's lush meadow grasses and, with the purchase of Shammy and Shalali (Sha-lay-lee), Edgar began developing a reputation as a horseman.

Shammy and Shalali, both American Quarter Horses, were nearly identical twins. They were big, stout sorrels with white strips from forehead to nostril. Under Edgar's tutelage, they developed into confident ranch horses capable of quietly sorting cattle and dragging calves to the branding fire.

Over the years, Edgar's horse herd grew, as did his reputation as a horseman. His early equine protégés were mounts for Edgar and Jo's four children, who participated in youth and amateur rodeo events and qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo on horses their dad had bred, raised or trained.

Soon after, Edgar turned his full attention to training horses and moved his family to the old homestead just south of Helena, where he built an indoor training facility and purchased a young stallion that he felt had promise as a sire. Destiny Leo Jag was only a yearling and an injury had rendered him unable to be ridden. However, his pedigree, his temperament and his conformation were exceptional, and Edgar knew this horse would produce champions. Edgar contracted a sign to be painted, and then he hung it beside the highway a short distance from his training facility. The sign read, "Producing horses with a Destiny to show, to run, to win."

And win they did. Edgar's horses had a definite influence on the Quarter Horse industry throughout the western United States. Edgar spent the late 1950s and 1960s training show horses while breeding and raising colts sired by Destiny Leo Jag. On a bet, he once hushed a crowd by entering the showring on a horse wearing no bridle and then, following a flawless reining performance, exited to a thundering ovation!

It was near this time that another sorrel, strip-faced horse entered Edgar's and Jo's lives. They knew this foal was special the moment they laid eyes on her. Destiny Leo Jag and the mare Herfano had produced an exceptional filly. When she was a mere yearling, Edgar hauled this gem they named Destiny Jagetta to numerous Quarter Horse shows, where she was undefeated and occasionally was selected the show's Grand Champion. As Jagetta matured and developed, Edgar added more events to her repertoire: Western pleasure, reining and dally team roping. She excelled in all, rarely placing out of the money.

By now, everyone in Montana's Quarter Horse circles knew of Destiny Jagetta, yet few realized how close she was to becoming a legend. Jagetta had earned enough points in halter and performance classes to meet the criteria established for the American Quarter Horse Association's most coveted prize, Supreme Champion. Yet there was one remaining criterion to fulfill: racing.

Not one to sidestep a challenge, Edgar forged ahead with his prized mare. Her siblings were performing well on the racetrack for some of the northwest's most noted trainers, and Edgar knew Jagetta also was special. Unfortunately, he didn't know beans about training racehorses. As fate would have it, his son-in-law did.

Like the rest of Edgar's and Jo's children, their youngest daughter married a man who shared her interest and devotion to horses. A reputable racehorse trainer in his own right, their son-in-law was certainly capable of training Destiny Jagetta. However, Edgar chose to work with his son-in-law and others, all the while keeping close tabs on his beloved mare and doing the majority of the training himself.

The sun shone brightly on that warm July day when Edgar's and Jo's horse career reached that juncture between showing horses and racing them. Just the day before, Edgar had shown Destiny Jagetta in halter at these very same fairgrounds. She had won yet another Aged-Mare class and was named the show's Grand Champion Mare. Now, in nervous anticipation, the family waited as she paraded to the starting gate for her first race, an old maid of five years among the breed's two-year-old maidens.

In a rush, it was over. The gates had sprung wide, and the horses had hurtled toward the finish line as the crowd roared. Jo was so nervous she couldn't watch, yet when the starting gates flew open and the announcer called, "They're off!" Jo sprang to her feet screaming, "Come on baby! Come on baby!" encouraging her sorrel, strip-faced mare to give her all.

The dust settled and photos were developed, and in an amazing display of versatility, this Grand Champion show mare had won her first race! Destiny Jagetta, Edgar and Jo were on their way to a Supreme Championship, and just as they were well known and respected on the horse-show circuit, Edgar and Jo were on their way to becoming a noteworthy team in horse-racing circles as well.

It took nary a year, but soon only one more AAA rating stood between Jagetta and her Supreme Champion award, so Edgar entered her in a race in Helena.

She didn't win that race, although she certainly tried. She always tried. But this time it didn't matter that she didn't win. Jagetta ran fast enough to earn the speed rating she needed for her second AAA. Edgar and Jo had bred, raised and trained a Supreme Champion!

It was these stories the mourners told: the stories of sorrel strip-faced Quarter Horses that, in turn, told the story of this horseman they had come to honor.

When the priest began the graveside service, the stories ceased and a hush fell over the small cemetery overlooking Edgar's hometown. In grief and sorrow, the mourners prayed, when, in awe and disbelief, someone looked up and saw a figure on the hill just above this little country cemetery. With a polite interruption of the service, the mourners were invited to look toward the skyline, where on the edge of the old homestead in a pasture long-ago ridden by a grand horseman, stood a single sorrel, strip-faced horse watching the proceedings.

The family had chosen to cover the casket at the end of the service, so when the final blessing had been offered, the mourners' voices sang one final verse of "Amazing Grace" as the casket was slowly lowered into the grave. Shovels then appeared from horsemen's pickup trucks as Edgar's family, friends and neighbors joined in to bring closure to a life well-lived. And when shovelful after shovelful of granite had covered the casket, the sorrel horse on the hill quietly turned and disappeared over the horizon.

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:)