Stallion of Steel
October 22nd 2009 00:53
Well, my boys doing ok.
His nose bled until late last night, and the swelling looks horrific, but I think hes improving. One thought keeps occuring to me - I'm remembering how hard he was galloping, some of the wild jumps I saw. I'm still not exactly clear how he landed on his head, but the one thing I keep thinking is - A lesser horse would have broken. Leg, neck....Something. Mums little Raj, who broke his leg and had to be destroyed at 13 months old, had legs like toothpicks.
Zayfir has legs like steel rods. The cannon bones are wide and thick, on hind and fore. These strong legs are braced by a wide and muscular chest and well developed hind quaters. His hooves are also very hard and strong, despite the dry weather. His long neck is padded by massive amounts of muscle that sometimes give him a sea serpent look.
So, in actual fact the injury has taught me more about my boy.
Now I think Im going to tell you exactly why he is so important.
Lots of people have dreams. Lots of people forget them, give up on them. I think mine is one of the best because it has grown and changed with me.
It began, as simply, this. I want to have horses to love.
Then, I want horses to ride and love.
So, to follow, you get into the horse industry. People are hard, people are cynical, and soon, all us doe eyed young pony book readers discover why. The horse industry has a dark heart.
Sale yards are full of horses no body wants. Full of horses that were not right for their purpose, and have failed through no real fault of their own. People fall in love with a colour, or breed. They fall in love with pretty eyes or a high tail, a certain expression. So, a person buys a horse, and says, "I like dressage. My horse and I shall do dressage" But horses are not created equal. Not in this day and age. So, thousands, sometimes millions of dollars go out, in training, in gear, in feeding and competition, trying to make the horse into what he is not. Sometimes years of pain (for horse and rider) can pass before the human finally admits defeat. Then it becomes the horses fault. Look at all Ive done for you, says the human. Ive fed you and paid your vet bills, given you the best rugs, feed and equipment and trainers. Still you refuse to be a dressage horse. So to the knackers with you, be gone, you deserve it. And I will get a new horse. A better horse. This time I think Im in the mood for a bay......
At about 19, in TAFE training, this was becoming clear to me.
Then I got to the next level.
We went on the Hunter Valley Stud tour. At each Stud, I asked the Stable Manager how many horses were produced each year. Each manager named a figure over 2000. Kleo's bad at math, but not that bad. We also visited the Easter and January sales. No where near the amount produced was sold. A massive number of young thoroughbreds disappeared. Kleo took in the beautiful stables, the paddocks with green lush grass, the many staff.
I was beginning to see.
Then, I got work at a major stud. Nothing but breeding and breeding and breeding, the best to the best, to make the best.
But it didnt work. It was just like the race horses - breed the fastest to the fastest to make faster. But it didnt work. Not every horse born from the formula was fast. Just like on the arabian stud not all the horses born from the best were good arabians.
I saw the horse industry split into a myriad. Studs segregated by breed or sport. Theres the Eventers, who breed mixed breeds and call them 'performance horses'. Theres arabs, theres thoroughbreds, theres thousands of others, and all stay in their own precious little paddcks. All of them say they are better than each other, all of them say, WE are the ones who care about the horse.
Yet every single stud regularly sends horses to the knacker. Old ones young ones, ones that arent useful. Every sngle one says 'we hate how the horse industry works. All those poor horses going to the saleyards. All those poor horses with so many owners.' Yet none of them think too hard when they sell a horse. They blinker themselves to the fact that the horse will likely be sold on in 6 months. They dont care - its the triumph of the sale. Lie, cheat, do whatever you have to do to get that cash in your hand, so you've got the money to......Produce even more horses next year.
They have become instruments of consumerisim.
Lately, I hear a lot of flak directed at breeders themselves, and not just horse breeders. Cat and dog too. Why continue to breed when thousands of animals are put down? At least horse flesh is used for something.
And here is where my dream began to form itself into something really, really ambitious.
I have a lovely mare named Shakla's Silver Dream to thank for it. I invite you to google her for further information. She is one of the most beautiful Arabian mares in the world, she reduces grown men to tears with her perfect coat, her deep liquid stare, her foaming mane and tail.
And Dream produces quality only 50% of the time.
How can this be?
Over a 6 year period I observed Dream and her full Sister, Silver Sequin. The two are as different as two snow flakes are supposed to be - similar colouring but markedly different shape. See, on the birth of the stunning Dream, stud boss imagined he had found the formula. Quick, do it again. Combine the bloodlines again, create another Dream!
And Sequin was born. 'Ugly' they say.
Yet for 6 years, every year, Sequin had a beautiful, stunning, quality baby, no matter which stallion she bred to. On the flipside her sister Dream, with thousands being spent on her husbands, dropped quality every SECOND year.
And my Teshan, adecidedly 'plainer' mare, produced quality two out of three. And the one that was not quality was her first. Mares have to be given some lee way on the first one.
Something clicked. Something I couldnt quite put into words. Its like a picture in my mind.....And I SEE how to fit horses together. To get the right horse every time.
To create a foundation for a stud I knew I needed Teshan. Her heart. Her spirit. Her long back legs, hard hooves, wide chest with ample lungs, with resistance to disease and glittering coat. I knew I needed the silver family - like Teshan but smoother, more cohesion to the confirmation. But Teshan has severe insanity, and the Silver family is moody. I needed Shakla Kahn.
As you know, I combined these bloodlines successfully in Zayfir. He has all the physical characteristics I desire as well as a trainable personality. Now I know I can train people to cater their breeding program - because I have done it. A few years worth of trials to prove it is not a fluke, and we go.
My dream is to run a breeding operation that is not caught in any category. People can come to me for a show horse, a hack horse, an eventer, an endurance horse, a pleasure horse. Because my horses will be truly versatlie, and not just advertised as such to make a sale. My horses will be sold once to their lifelong owners, cemented in their chosen sports because their bodies do not betray them.
His nose bled until late last night, and the swelling looks horrific, but I think hes improving. One thought keeps occuring to me - I'm remembering how hard he was galloping, some of the wild jumps I saw. I'm still not exactly clear how he landed on his head, but the one thing I keep thinking is - A lesser horse would have broken. Leg, neck....Something. Mums little Raj, who broke his leg and had to be destroyed at 13 months old, had legs like toothpicks.
Zayfir has legs like steel rods. The cannon bones are wide and thick, on hind and fore. These strong legs are braced by a wide and muscular chest and well developed hind quaters. His hooves are also very hard and strong, despite the dry weather. His long neck is padded by massive amounts of muscle that sometimes give him a sea serpent look.
So, in actual fact the injury has taught me more about my boy.
Now I think Im going to tell you exactly why he is so important.
Lots of people have dreams. Lots of people forget them, give up on them. I think mine is one of the best because it has grown and changed with me.
It began, as simply, this. I want to have horses to love.
Then, I want horses to ride and love.
So, to follow, you get into the horse industry. People are hard, people are cynical, and soon, all us doe eyed young pony book readers discover why. The horse industry has a dark heart.
Sale yards are full of horses no body wants. Full of horses that were not right for their purpose, and have failed through no real fault of their own. People fall in love with a colour, or breed. They fall in love with pretty eyes or a high tail, a certain expression. So, a person buys a horse, and says, "I like dressage. My horse and I shall do dressage" But horses are not created equal. Not in this day and age. So, thousands, sometimes millions of dollars go out, in training, in gear, in feeding and competition, trying to make the horse into what he is not. Sometimes years of pain (for horse and rider) can pass before the human finally admits defeat. Then it becomes the horses fault. Look at all Ive done for you, says the human. Ive fed you and paid your vet bills, given you the best rugs, feed and equipment and trainers. Still you refuse to be a dressage horse. So to the knackers with you, be gone, you deserve it. And I will get a new horse. A better horse. This time I think Im in the mood for a bay......
At about 19, in TAFE training, this was becoming clear to me.
Then I got to the next level.
We went on the Hunter Valley Stud tour. At each Stud, I asked the Stable Manager how many horses were produced each year. Each manager named a figure over 2000. Kleo's bad at math, but not that bad. We also visited the Easter and January sales. No where near the amount produced was sold. A massive number of young thoroughbreds disappeared. Kleo took in the beautiful stables, the paddocks with green lush grass, the many staff.
I was beginning to see.
Then, I got work at a major stud. Nothing but breeding and breeding and breeding, the best to the best, to make the best.
But it didnt work. It was just like the race horses - breed the fastest to the fastest to make faster. But it didnt work. Not every horse born from the formula was fast. Just like on the arabian stud not all the horses born from the best were good arabians.
I saw the horse industry split into a myriad. Studs segregated by breed or sport. Theres the Eventers, who breed mixed breeds and call them 'performance horses'. Theres arabs, theres thoroughbreds, theres thousands of others, and all stay in their own precious little paddcks. All of them say they are better than each other, all of them say, WE are the ones who care about the horse.
Yet every single stud regularly sends horses to the knacker. Old ones young ones, ones that arent useful. Every sngle one says 'we hate how the horse industry works. All those poor horses going to the saleyards. All those poor horses with so many owners.' Yet none of them think too hard when they sell a horse. They blinker themselves to the fact that the horse will likely be sold on in 6 months. They dont care - its the triumph of the sale. Lie, cheat, do whatever you have to do to get that cash in your hand, so you've got the money to......Produce even more horses next year.
They have become instruments of consumerisim.
Lately, I hear a lot of flak directed at breeders themselves, and not just horse breeders. Cat and dog too. Why continue to breed when thousands of animals are put down? At least horse flesh is used for something.
And here is where my dream began to form itself into something really, really ambitious.
I have a lovely mare named Shakla's Silver Dream to thank for it. I invite you to google her for further information. She is one of the most beautiful Arabian mares in the world, she reduces grown men to tears with her perfect coat, her deep liquid stare, her foaming mane and tail.
And Dream produces quality only 50% of the time.
How can this be?
Over a 6 year period I observed Dream and her full Sister, Silver Sequin. The two are as different as two snow flakes are supposed to be - similar colouring but markedly different shape. See, on the birth of the stunning Dream, stud boss imagined he had found the formula. Quick, do it again. Combine the bloodlines again, create another Dream!
And Sequin was born. 'Ugly' they say.
Yet for 6 years, every year, Sequin had a beautiful, stunning, quality baby, no matter which stallion she bred to. On the flipside her sister Dream, with thousands being spent on her husbands, dropped quality every SECOND year.
And my Teshan, adecidedly 'plainer' mare, produced quality two out of three. And the one that was not quality was her first. Mares have to be given some lee way on the first one.
Something clicked. Something I couldnt quite put into words. Its like a picture in my mind.....And I SEE how to fit horses together. To get the right horse every time.
To create a foundation for a stud I knew I needed Teshan. Her heart. Her spirit. Her long back legs, hard hooves, wide chest with ample lungs, with resistance to disease and glittering coat. I knew I needed the silver family - like Teshan but smoother, more cohesion to the confirmation. But Teshan has severe insanity, and the Silver family is moody. I needed Shakla Kahn.
As you know, I combined these bloodlines successfully in Zayfir. He has all the physical characteristics I desire as well as a trainable personality. Now I know I can train people to cater their breeding program - because I have done it. A few years worth of trials to prove it is not a fluke, and we go.
My dream is to run a breeding operation that is not caught in any category. People can come to me for a show horse, a hack horse, an eventer, an endurance horse, a pleasure horse. Because my horses will be truly versatlie, and not just advertised as such to make a sale. My horses will be sold once to their lifelong owners, cemented in their chosen sports because their bodies do not betray them.
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