Santana's La Silueta
I have been thinking about getting another horse for some time. Unfortunately, one of my horses is no longer reliably sound since she has some navicular disease, which causes her to be lame for a while if ridden for more than a few minutes. She’s lovely and gentle and of no real use to me at this point. I am looking for a nice home for her.
About a week ago or so, I had gotten an email from an old friend, Paula Wolff, in the Kansas City area. Paula is disbanding her wonderful Paso Fino operation and herd. This is what I did over ten years ago. I certainly understand wanting to keep a few horses but not wanting to be in the horse business, especially in these times.
It happened that the weekend she was going to have an open house to show her horses was the same weekend we were going to Columbia for a gymnastics meet where our granddaughter was competing. So, I dragged a horse trailer along and, after the meet, headed for KC. Meeting me there was a friend, the daughter of a friend/colleague, who rides with me and sometimes takes care of my horses. Luckily, her dad was going to be in KC that weekend to practice with his band. So, she went with him and we arranged a place where he’d drop her off and she was then to return to St. Louis with me.
I knew which two horses I was interested in looking at and riding and had told Paula of my choices after we had spoken about her horses over the phone. When we got to her ranch, her trainer took out the first of the horses, Santana’s La Silueta, a dark bay, six-year-old Paso Fino mare. Neither of the horses we wanted to see had been ridden in about two years. It’s always good to see how much training sticks with a horse like that.
First one of the trainers, Alex, rode Silueta. I stood in the indoor arena and watched in the same way I had when I was a Paso Fino judge looking at how the horse tracked front and rear, hock action, whether there was any hitching when in gait, collection, tail movement, etc. She was wonderful. Next I rode to see how she responded and felt while aboard. Finally, my friend rode. This was important since, while she is a very good rider, she is a real novice on a Paso Fino and horse with this much spunk and action. I wanted to see how the horse reacted and she did well. And the rider did well, too!
Next, we took out the second mare, Santana’s Mignon, a gray, seven-year-old Paso Fino mare. We went through the same process we had with Silueta. Mignon is a nice mare, strong gaited, but it was clear to my friend and me that Silueta was the horse to get. Paula and I made a deal, signed the papers, etc.
We loaded the mare into our trailer. Oh, like everyone who sees us, they were amazed I was pulling a horse trailer with a Porsche. Four-and-a-half hours later we were back in Chesterfield and Silueta’s new home.
There was one oddity about the trip. On the way out to KC with an empty horse trailer, I averaged exactly 10.0 mpg. On the way back, with a 900 pound horse in the trailer, I averaged 10.3 mpg. Anyone have an explanation for this?
About a week ago or so, I had gotten an email from an old friend, Paula Wolff, in the Kansas City area. Paula is disbanding her wonderful Paso Fino operation and herd. This is what I did over ten years ago. I certainly understand wanting to keep a few horses but not wanting to be in the horse business, especially in these times.
It happened that the weekend she was going to have an open house to show her horses was the same weekend we were going to Columbia for a gymnastics meet where our granddaughter was competing. So, I dragged a horse trailer along and, after the meet, headed for KC. Meeting me there was a friend, the daughter of a friend/colleague, who rides with me and sometimes takes care of my horses. Luckily, her dad was going to be in KC that weekend to practice with his band. So, she went with him and we arranged a place where he’d drop her off and she was then to return to St. Louis with me.
I knew which two horses I was interested in looking at and riding and had told Paula of my choices after we had spoken about her horses over the phone. When we got to her ranch, her trainer took out the first of the horses, Santana’s La Silueta, a dark bay, six-year-old Paso Fino mare. Neither of the horses we wanted to see had been ridden in about two years. It’s always good to see how much training sticks with a horse like that.
First one of the trainers, Alex, rode Silueta. I stood in the indoor arena and watched in the same way I had when I was a Paso Fino judge looking at how the horse tracked front and rear, hock action, whether there was any hitching when in gait, collection, tail movement, etc. She was wonderful. Next I rode to see how she responded and felt while aboard. Finally, my friend rode. This was important since, while she is a very good rider, she is a real novice on a Paso Fino and horse with this much spunk and action. I wanted to see how the horse reacted and she did well. And the rider did well, too!
Next, we took out the second mare, Santana’s Mignon, a gray, seven-year-old Paso Fino mare. We went through the same process we had with Silueta. Mignon is a nice mare, strong gaited, but it was clear to my friend and me that Silueta was the horse to get. Paula and I made a deal, signed the papers, etc.
We loaded the mare into our trailer. Oh, like everyone who sees us, they were amazed I was pulling a horse trailer with a Porsche. Four-and-a-half hours later we were back in Chesterfield and Silueta’s new home.
There was one oddity about the trip. On the way out to KC with an empty horse trailer, I averaged exactly 10.0 mpg. On the way back, with a 900 pound horse in the trailer, I averaged 10.3 mpg. Anyone have an explanation for this?
posted by Bud Hirsch at 11:52 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home