I’ve been dreaming quite a bit about my horse Kipper, whom I no longer own. I miss him so much.
I bought him as a two-year-old stallion, shaggy and gawky. He was a Cleveland Bay with a touch of thoroughbred, and eventually grew to 17’2″ – a massive horse that I practically needed a ladder to climb rather than a mounting block.
Like most of his breed, he was even-tempered, not spooky, very brave, but also lazy and stubborn, with the typical Cleveland Bay streak of “won’t”. It was this streak that finally caused me to sell him, since it was so difficult to actually get his huge butt in gear.
He’s the only horse that I’ve ever lain down next to – I think I could have slept next to him in the straw. When he broke his shoulder out in pasture, and was on box rest for so long, I used to bring in toys to keep him interested, and I would call people on my mobile so they could talk to him. Once I braided blue ribbons and teddy bears into his main, and wore a matching blue shirt. He was my guy.
And now he’s in my dreams…I’m riding him in the woods, or I’m trailering him and I’m lost. Once he was in the scary house that I’ve dreamed about since I was a kid. He’s a part of me, and somehow we’re still connected. I miss him.
Here’s Kip’s blooper reel, the outtakes from his sale video. My friend Jane is riding him (since she is very strong and no-nonsense and can try to motivate him into a canter). He was veryvery bad that day…that is a massive streak of “won’t”. But he’s still beautiful. :)
My friend Melinda does competition level dressage on her eighty thousand dollar horse.
I’d be terrified to own anything that expensive that might get a tummy ache and die. She had that happen to a prior horse.
He’s a pretty horse, and I get that good dressage is a sport requiring amazing skill. But if I spend that much money on something, I want it to have all replaceable parts.
Exactly! Horses, for all their size and strength, are some of the most fragile creatures on the planet. Our fault, really, since we made them that way. I’ve spent more money than I could tell you on vets bills, even with insurance to cover part of it. (Now that’s bizarre, when you think about it – I couldn’t afford health insurance for myself, but I damn sure had to have it for the horses!)
What a bad boy! But so beautiful. Did you sell him from that video?? I owned a Cleveland Bay x Thoroughbred who was the kindest person ever, but still with that stubborn streak. I owned him for 23 years until he decided to leave us one night. Just didn’t wake up in the morning. I still think about him and know how lucky I was to be a part of his life.
I did sell him – just not from this video, these were the outtakes. :) He went to a new home with a lovely girl, and I still miss him. Sorry about your Cleveland Bay – although famously stubborn, they really are the loveliest horses. I went out on him on the roads at four years old, just after starting him, and he was rocksolid in traffic and with all manner of scary things. He was my boy…he was just too big, and too lazy, for me to ride him well. Rather than struggle with each other, he went to a home where all he had to be was absolutely trustworthy…which he always was.