Reality Matters Sometimes

 

Comet is 75% Appaloosa, 25% Arabian, and 110% tough. Comet is about 18 years old, just under 14 hands, and well over the expectations that others have when they first see him. Comet is featured prominently in my book. He was the first horse that I ever trained using natural horsemanship. He was once a fool and now he is wise. He was once terrified and now he is calm. He was once terrifying and now he is soothing. He was once what my father described as one of only two horses that he has known that he was afraid of and now he is ridden by novices. He was once the absolute lord of the herd, and now he...still is, in all matters but for breeding.

While I have had him he has:
1. Never coliced.
2. Never needed to have his hooves trimmed more than twice a year.
3. Never been lame, for even a moment.
4. Never required a vet visit.
5. And never injured a child.

Had Comet been a stallion he would have been the only stallion I would have ever acquired because I could think of no better sire for my little ones. The mere thought of using a "grade" pony as a herd sire is an outrage to the established horse world. This established horse world breeds valuable show horses with distinguished pedigrees.

Valuable show horses with distinguished pedigrees:
1. Always seem to need another vet visit.
2. Always seem to require special, expensive diets because they
3. Always seem to be having problems with colic or ulcers.
4. Always seem to be lame or recovering from a lameness because they
5. Always seem to be stuck inside a stable awaiting for the elusive opportunity to have "turnout."

But Comet is not a valuable show horse with a distinguished pedigree and he and I are:
1. Always grateful for that fact.