9/30/10 A Surprise

August through October was a frenetic time period for me.  Within a span of 7 weeks, I took my mare, Legs, to Standardbred Nationals in New Jersey, helped put on our major gala fundraiser for work, traveled to Nebraska for a week of autocross competition at the ProSolo and Solo National Championships, looked for houses and came very close to making an out of state move, and prepared to host family, friends, and horses for the International Equestrian Festival (IEF) and World Equestrian Games (WEG)  in addition to exhibiting in those events with my mare.  Whew!  I am not the type of person who likes to be bored, but I had certainly exceeded even my own threshold for activity!

If you read my previous post, you know that I have been looking for a second horse for some time, and wanted to make that horse a Standardbred. I had gotten my hopes up repeatedly for candidates through horse adoption operations (SRF and New Vocations) and through private arrangements.  It seemed like every time I thought I'd found the right prospect, it was already spoken for or turned out to be unsuitable.  I had resigned myself to the interminable waiting game.

J and I were en route to the IEF with Legs when a text message came through on my phone.  The message was from one of my NJ STB friends, Rob.  He was looking for a home for his nice gelding, Larry (Valiant Legacy).  His work and travel as a racetrack groom left him without the time or money to care for Larry any more.  Of course I was familiar with the horse.  He was a gorgeous black gelding who had won High Point Standardbred Rookie of the Year honors in 2008 showing exclusively in halter and showmanship classes and was well decorated in in-hand classes, though he didn't have much riding experience.  I had seen him go in the National show in August and he looked nice, though of course I didn't view him with the same critical eye as if I might own him.  The message startled me to be sure.  My first thought was, "Is this for real?  Rob loves that horse."  My second was, "What a difficult decision this must be for him to make."

I digested these thoughts throughout my exhibition with my mare.  When I had some time that afternoon, I spoke with Rob on the phone.  Just like that, my horse search was over; I would become the proud new owner of a gorgeous black gelding in just a few short weeks!