Horse Stories with My Dad

My Dad adjusting a jump back in the day...

I love hearing my dad's stories about his about his life with horses.  He's had so many different experiences, varied careers, and all while being largely self-taught since the age of 15.  I don't think it's just familial pride talking when I say that he has some fascinating stories.

If there are two types of stories I really like, it's tales of adventure and anything that has to do with a central equine character.  I've been hearing my dad's stories since I was a young child and it's gotten so that I can picture the horses he talks about and their names are almost as familiar as my own.  I never get tired of hearing about his life as a horseman, even the repeat stories.

So when at lunch recently, the conversation about thoroughbreds turned to my dad's experiences retraining OTTBS to become field hunters, I listened intently. 

He used to work at a hunt and it was part of his job to take the OTTBS the owner had inherited and turn them into suitable mounts for fox hunting.   This includes not only jumping, but being calm around baying hounds and having the whippers be able to crack the whip while mounted.  I can't even get one of the OTTBS at the barn to pick up the right lead canter!

He talked of one of the horses that broke out its front teeth, the big grey that even the timidest of riders could handle, and how he and his coworker got to take two of their favorite hunters to a show once.  He remembers that they swapped horses halfway through and he won one class on Simona and one on a bay.

This is where my mother comes in.  It must be said, that my father's horse stories wouldn't be as good without my mother.  She never rode the horses in shows or on hunts, but she acted as groom, stablehand, and horse show mother to my dad's students.  Her memories of the horses come from a different perspective that is no less detailed or valuable.

She corrects and says that it was Palazzo that he took and that Palazzo was more brown then bay.  In addition, she adds, Palazzo was also one of her favorites because of his sweet disposition.  

She remembers the people and horses that my dad does not and her stories about her experiences as a groom are the perhaps the most telling about the human and equine characters.  Though, since she loves any animal she meets, I swear that almost all of them are her favorites, which is telling about how kind my mother is.

Every time I hear a story from my dad, whether it's the first time or the tenth, I always learn something new.  They're also just fun to hear about.  Someday, I hope to record all of my parent's stories.  Maybe my future descendants will be as horse crazy as their ancestors!