My Analog Broodmare

I'm the epitome of what's known as a "small breeder." I have one broodmare, a Quarter Horse, purchased a couple of years ago so I could raise a foal or two for my personal use. I love everything having to do with young horses and decided I'd rather have a way to control their health and upbringing from conception on, rather than worry about what happened to a youngster before it came my way.

When hunting for the future mother of my next prospects, I began looking from the ground up--literally. Instead of starting my hunt by typing the name of a contemporary brand-name sire into the search function of an entity like www.equine.com, www.dreamhorse.com, etc., I reviewed--in person--the stock owned by a breeder with far more experience than mine. Fifty years' worth, to be exact. With every mare shown to me, I began my look-her-over with an old-fashioned, learned-it-from-Grandpa, study of her feet and legs.

Quite frankly, I'd about had it with trying to find weanlings and yearlings that didn't have hoof/leg problems bred right into them. Grandpa, who grew up farming with horses, knew what kind of underpinnings a horse has to have in order to stay sound with regular work. Too bad his generation is gone now, as that kind of analog knowledge seems to be in an increasingly abbreviated supply in our digitized world. (He'd have found today's message-board horse trading, with its naming of sale horses by sire initials only, to be a real tsk-tsk situation. "Nice mare by ZCC, out of IO daughter." Say what??)

Next on my mare-review list: the rest of what goes into good conformation, including balance, good withers for holding a saddle, a well-formed neck, and an attractive head. While the saying goes that "you don't ride the head," I have to feed it and look at it every day and don't care to own a pig-eyed moose. Also key: a kind temperament, the better for me to remain in one piece while handling her, and experience at the broodmare job. Since this was going to be my first go at raising foals, I figured I needed a mare that knew more about the whole business that I did at that point. No maiden mares for me just yet.

Finally, we got down to pedigree. Did I end up with something trendy? Nope--no ZCC, IO, ZMGB, BH, or PI. Instead, I went analog in that department, too, with a daughter of an AQHA Champion, whose dam was by an AQHA Champion. That title may not be the gold standard anymore, but it does mean something to me. A horse can't earn that title without winning at halter and performance both, and that takes an above-average mind as well as an above-average body. The mare herself was never shown, having spent her adult-horse life raising babies. Not an issue to me, seeing as how my need was for a mare that knew how to be a mom, not one that knew how to go win a ribbon.

My ol' gray mare, a 1990 model, has had two foals since I bought her and brought her home, and I couldn't be happier with my choice. Both babies were easily conceived, easily foaled, and easily gentled for handling. They have Mama's substance, her pretty head, her good disposition, and even her eye-appealing color. I'd have run the wheels off my truck trying to find ones I liked any better.

Does my broodmare "Google well," on the basis of a yard-long show record and a famous-today sire? Nope. But she sure does the job for me.

Visions of 2020

Imagine that another year's about to roll over. Only instead of starting to write checks dated 2007, you'll be using the number 2020. Hard to picture? That's what I thought, until I realized 2020 will be upon us in a mere 13 years. That's only as far out ahead of us as 1994 is behind us. I don't know about you, but to me, 1994 seems like the day before yesterday. It's easy to remember the horses I had, the trails I rode, the outfits I wore to shows, the horse-mag articles I wrote. Suppose I sent my imagination forward instead of rearward? What would I see where my horse life's concerned?

Seeing as how I'll be 66 (going on 67) when 2020 rolls around, I suspect I'd see someone glad to have taken care of her own health--it takes a good measure of that to keep up with horsekeeping's labors. I'm already cognizant of how much harder the work seems than it did a decade ago. By 2020, I'm guessing I'd have a barnyard full of labor-saving devices, some of which haven't yet been invented but that'll find a growing market as time marches on. Like so many of those who currently keep the horse world's wheels turning, I'm a Baby Boomer. Thirteen years from now, my horse-owning generation will be 59-73 years old. Ultra-relaxed-fit Wranglers, anyone?

My current weanling colt and the full sibling expected in '07 would be in their teens. Would I still be engaged in small-scale horse breeding by 2020? Doubtful...see the above comments on health and workload. Meanwhile, though, my young show gelding would be pushing 20, enjoying his mellow-fellow years, and perhaps packing around a grandkid or two. Maybe those kids would play dress-up with the rhinestone-bedecked show clothes I've worn the last couple of seasons. Once all that bling-studded attire goes out of fashion, I doubt it'd be good for much else. "Wow, Grandma--you actually WORE this stuff? And fit into it? Amazing!" I can almost hear the incredulous comments.

If I expected to support horses, I'd probably still be working, perhaps heading up the Old Fogey Department at some media company with an equine-enthusiast division. My boss probably would be someone who's in college today--someone who couldn't remember when there was no e-mail, no digital photography, no horse breeding via shipped semen, no online message boards, no bloggers, no horsemen who traveled from show to show with a 2-horse trailer hitched to the bumper of a car. Talk about faded frames of reference.

Makes me hope that a good-sized segment of my fellow Boomers will follow me into senior-citizen horse ownership. Otherwise, who'd relate to my references about the good old days?

Sometimes, You Just Need a Road Trip

I've been unplugged for a while--no e-mail, no blog entries, no message board activity, no cyberworld suck-in in general. Reason? I gave in to the urge to hook up the horse trailer and head out on a road trip. I left the laptop home on purpose. Sometimes, I just have to stop living in the virtual horse world, as it appears on-screen, in favor of feeding the brain in a different fashion.

This time, part of my excuse for unshackling myself from my MacIntosh was to deliver a weanling filly, born a few miles from my home in Idaho, to my brother in eastern North Dakota. The Rockies lie between here and there, and the pre-snow window for crossing the mountain passes was about to close. (While I love most things about making a crosscountry trek with horse in tow, chaining up tires at the base of a mountain isn't one of them.) I suppose you could say that I traded one variety of deadlines--the kind I deal with nearly every day as a journalist--for another kind. The first kind is draining. The second kind is somehow exhilirating. Must be due to its connection to the natural world, a place that tends to recede to life's background when computer work pays the bills.

A few things worth noting, now that I'm back from a round trip of almost 2,500 miles (most of them spent crossing Montana):

* Satellite radio's well worth the monthly subscription fee. Now that I have it in my diesel dually, I don't know how I ever drove across places like Montana without it.

* When you think you may need overnight stabling, www.horsetrip.com is a great resource to investigate before you leave home. The site's organized by state, easy to use, and loaded with valuable info.

* Never leave home, horse in trailer, without a well-stocked vet kit and an equine first-aid manual. I didn't need these items on this trip, but you just don't know when they might be needed, and they provide great peace of mind just by being in your rig.

* The best road reports come from truckers who've just crossed the country you're about to head into. When you need to refuel, especially when weather up ahead looks iffy, do it at a major truck stop instead of a fuel-and-junk-food station. If the pro drivers have pulled over to wait out the weather, let their action be your guide.

* Enjoy the ride. Sure, it's great to get to where you're going, but the mile-by-mile process has value, too. The hurry-hurry-hurry aspect of contemporary life will still be there when you get home.

Reined Cow Horse Culture

I just got home and unpacked after attending the last four days of the Reno snaffle bit futurity--a.k.a. the National Reined Cow Horse Association World Championship Snaffle Bit Futurity. It's one of the two top events on my gotta-go-to list (the other one's the AQHA World Show), and as usual, it's left me with plenty to think and talk about.

In basic terms, the SBF is a triathlon for 3-year-olds. The horses perform in three phases of competition: herd work (like cutting), reined work (like reining), and fence work (controlling a single cow at speed, including turns after running the cow down the arena fence). Preliminary rounds sort 25 open finalists from close to 300 entrants. Those finalists start with a clean slate and execute all three phases in a single finals-round day, going after a first-place check worth $100,000.

The show also features divisions for nonpros and junior riders, along with classes for older horses. There are two days of horse sales, and a trade show that'd give just about anyone a major case of the I-wants. It's all set in a Nevada gambling town that may not be as big and grand as Las Vegas but that's got Vegas beat for Western flavor and visitor-friendliness.

Like nearby Virginia City, the Reno SBF attracts prospectors. In this case, they aren't digging for silver, but for scoops on hot bloodlines, tack and fashion trends, horse-world gossip, and up-and-coming performers. I'm no different. I came home with a notebook full of jottings. A few highlights:

* Cutting horses were the predominant sires of horses in the open finals. This represents a move away from sires known primarily in the reined cow horse and reining fields. The sires list included horses like High Brow Cat, Dual Pep, Peptoboonsmal, Tangys Classy Peppy, Playgun, and CD Olena.

* This was the year that a younger generation of riders--some still only in their 20s--elbowed many of the perennial contenders out of the finals. The one who had everyone asking, "Who was THAT?" was Cayley Wilson, the first-ever finalist from British Columbia.

* Even though the young guys came a-ridin', the top two spots went to experienced hands. Oklahoma's Todd Crawford broke his always-a-bridesmaid jinx to earn his first SBF championship--after NRCHA rules gave him the win to break a total-score tie with previous champ Jon Roeser of California. The association breaks ties based on the highest fence score, and Crawford's 220 was a mere half-point higher than Roeser's 219.5. It may have been one of the most valuable half-points in cow horse history.

* The 2006 event was marred by the first rider fatality in its three-decades-plus history. Carrie Abbona, Lindsay, California, did not survive the crash her horse took while going down the fence in the nonpro prelims. Her death sobered everyone and underscored the fact that this can be a dangerous sport.

* As usual, the SBF scene was a place for the flaunting of out-of-the-saddle fashion. Two trends stood out. (Well, one stood out, and the other one threatened to blind you.) The first was embroidery as embellishment. It showed up on jeans, jackets, shirts, even belts and boots. The second was use of crystals. If you're waiting for the bling trend to have blung, it ain't happened yet. The trade show featured crystals on everything from halters and headstalls to head-to-toe clothing.

* THE item to have was the blinged-out belt, with some sporting crystals as big as a horse's eye and price tags that approached a cool grand. Unfortunately, some of these babies showed up around waists that'd have been better off disguised than broadcast as resting places for the latest in conspicuous consumption. (Then again, who said that a trip to Reno had to have anything to do with taste?)

* If the big, blinding belt was the latest must-have accessory for women, the one for male trainers over 50 appeared to be the blonde trophy babe. Overheard on more than one occasion: "That's his girlfriend?? I thought she was his daughter!"

* NRCHA honored the first riders and horses to join its million-dollar club. The riders with $1 million or more in NRCHA earnings are Ted Robinson, Bob Avila, and Jon Roeser. The stallions whose get have earned at least that much are Nu Cash, Shining Spark, and Smart Chic Olena.

* Women riders dominated the nonpro division. The championship went to Idaho's Annie Reynolds, and the reserve champ was Laurie Ward of California.

After all this observation, I'm nursing tired feet, a thinner wallet, and a notebook fat with business cards. But it won't be long before I'm ready to circle next year's SBF dates and to book my next flight to Reno and reined cow horse culture.