|
This was the first time I have written anything since he died so it was much harder than I thought it would be. Take what you want from it. Thanks again. When I was 11 yrs old my mom picked me up from school one day and announced, to my shock, that they had just purchased a purebred Arabian Stallion. I had spent years pouring over the Arabian Horse World and had become quite familiar and enamored with the Arabian Horse; so the idea of "owning" one was very exciting especially a stallion. I was so thrilled and happy and had to know this magnificent stallion's name and my mother's response was "Dusty." The first thought that came to my mind "What a terrible name for an Arabian Stallion, sounds like a girl name." If I had only known what was laying ahead for me and this stallion named Dusty. We lived in Sunnyvale, Texas and had Welsh Ponies and Half Arabians up until 1977 when Madu Gold Dust aka 'Dusty' joined the herd to be bred to the Welsh mares. Dusty was a yearling when my parents bought him and I thought he was a crazed horse. He was high strung and I could not even get near him so I went on riding my ponies and ignoring the wild Arabian. When Dusty was 4 yrs old my parents took him to a trainer to be broke to ride. My personal opinion was that no one would ever ride him but within 2 months Dusty was home and broke to ride. Eventually, when the ponies seemed too boring to ride, I decided it was time to ride Dusty. I went from a Yugo to Ferrari and never went back. Dusty was a wonderful riding horse and soon we were inseparable. When I was not in school or sleeping I was out riding. All through my high school years I became such a familiar sight through Sunnyvale: blonde hair, bare feet --- and bareback on a red stallion with his blonde tail flagged. I rode to the mall, through fast food drive-thrus, to the lake, to the parks -- anywhere we could get to. I even did my homework in his stall with him for company. On my 21st birthday my mother handed me a card: it read "Dusty has always belonged to you in heart, it is time for him to belong to you legally". She then presented me with his papers. It was the best present I have ever received. I rode Dusty in parades and on trail rides. I learned Dressage on him. We did shows and in time we bought a place so we could raise foals and he could have his own pasture full of grass. We could pretty much read each others minds. Dusty loved parades. He believed that everyone was there to see him. That made him a great parade horse, he would have everyone saying "eeeewwww, aaahhh" with all his prancing and strutting. One time in particular we were in a parade in downtown Dallas and in order to get back to our trailers we had to go back through the downtown where there were no streets blocked off. So everyone dismounted and led their horses back because of the traffic; but Dusty was not afraid of cars so down the middle lane we went leading the riders and horses with buses and cars flying by on both sides. We stopped at a light where a Mercedes limo pull up next to us, the windows came down and several Japanese business men starting take pictures of Dusty and me. He was a great ambassador for the breed because not only was he beautiful but very smart. No matter where we went, whether it was down the street or in a parade people constantly stopped and asked "what kind of horse is he?" I went to my parents house taking Dusty with me for a visit. I turned Dusty loose in my dad's cow pasture. Dusty had always had a thing for cows. Well, he proceeded to round up all the cows and chase them into a pond, then he stood on the hill next to him, pleased as he could be with himself and chasing back any cow that attempted to leave where HE had put them. My dad was not so pleased. One time Dusty slid into his fence, knocking it down in the middle of the night and ending up out with the mares. But when he slid he had hurt his shoulder and was in a great deal of pain. So he came looking for me. I was awakened by the sound of something knocking on my bedroom window. I opened it to see such a look in his eye that I knew he was hurt. He had sprung his shoulder. He recovered, but it had always bothered him after that. I don't even know how to put 21 years with Dusty into a story, I have so many stories of the things we did together. He had brought me so much happiness. All four of my kids learned to ride on him, he was so gentle around kids. June 30, 1998, he broke his shoulder and I had to have him put down ... it broke my heart. I had read all of Walter Farley's Black Stallion books and thought "wouldn't it be wonderful to have such a horse." Then one day I realized... I did, and he was even better. Dusty is the reason that I am an Arabian fan and always will be. He is also the reason I am a CMK preservation breeder and why I founded the Crabbet Alliance of Texas. He was beautiful, arrogant, proud, breathtaking, smart with a great disposition. He was without a doubt my best friend.
Ok how about this one.... I use to do many a parade in downtown Dallas on my stallion, Dusty. The Christmas parade they have has those huge balloon creatures that require people holding them down the parade route. I rode in the first one where they had these balloons and the parade coodinator did not "think" about putting such a balloon behind a riding group. All the horse groups where lined up together about an hour before the parade and the Serriff's posse was ragging our group about such riding A-Rabs because they were so crazy. As if on cue, here came around a tall building... SNOOPY. Every horse went bugged-eyed and tried to bolt. I will brag here. Dusty glanced at it and that was all the time he gave it. The A-Rab group was the group in front of Snoopy along the parade route and they handled it. The only thing that scared Dusty on a parade route? Chucky Cheese. I wish I had a picture of us when Chucky Cheese came walking up to pet Dusty. Now HE was scarry. Maria
|
