A Few Old Horses

I grew up at Los Cuervos Academy, an exclusively english stable. Los Cuervos means The Crows in Spanish & it was an appropriate name with all the crows flocking in the trees. I don't know anyone who ever called it Los Cuervos though, we all just called it Mr Harris'. I like to say it was an exclusively english stable but have to admit that I rode english & western, although english was my favorite. Not long after I began boarding my horse there, a few other girls moved in who also rode western. You might say we corrupted a snobby stable. There were quite a few old horses that belonged to the stable owner. Many were lesson horses but a few had reached favored status & were no longer ridden.

There was a palomino thoroughbred (yes, there are palomino TBs) named Trout. He was said to be almost 40 & because of his advanced age, he was allowed free roam of the stable. He was a mealy color but in the summer you could see a hint of dapples. He was a rickety old horse but every now & then he would thunder through the stable as fast as his old legs would carry him. I had seen pictures of him when he was a young horse, flying over fences so large I could have walked under them. He really was an impressive horse when he was young, with an almost white mane & tail against his dark gold, dappled coat. It was said that he'd won many ribbons, & many high dollar offers for his purchase had been turned down. He was a lucky old horse because he lived out his aged years doing whatever he pleased. Unlike so many who were trailered to the local slaughterhouse, Trout was always held in high regard & quite pampered. He must have been close to 45 when he colicked & died. I can still see the pictures of that golden horse flying over those huge fences.

Aintree was another old, thoroughbred jumper who had earned his right to a good retirement. He was a chestnut horse with long legs & a greyhound body. After his jumping career he became a young girl's first horse. He served her well for many years & when she out grew him, he was traded to the stable owner for a younger horse. Aintree was used as a lesson horse for a while but proved to be too high spirited for most students. After Trout passed away, Aintree became the stable roamer.

Charlie was the best lesson horse & allowed anyone to ride him. He was a small bay & white pinto, probably only standing about 13.2 or 13.3. He was the first horse my youngest brother ever rode. Every kid at the stable wanted to ride Charlie. He was always being groomed & hand grazed, basking in the attention of all the kids. For about 6 months he had bouts of unexplained diarrhea. Today we know it was probably parasites, but 40 years ago horses were tube wormed once a year & that was thought to be sufficient. It was finally decided that putting him down was for the best so he was loaded in the trailer, never to be seen again.

Duchess was big, Belgian mare with a back like a couch. She was a lesson horse for those older girls who had the strength to control her. She was extremely headstrong & had a penchant for running away. She had a wicked disposition & would kick at any horse getting near her. She would even bite people if she decided she didn't like them. I can remember one time when she was being leased by a movie actor's daughter (don't ask because I can't remember his name but did see him on tv). All of us girls were racing our horses under an aisle of bamboo. Some of it was pretty low so we had to lay our horses' necks as we galloped. When we got tired of just racing, we decided to run under the bamboo while riding backwards. Yes, kids can do the craziest things! That girl got on Duchess backwards (we were all bareback) & that mare just ran away, knocking the girl off on a branch. The poor girl was a bloody mess & an ambulance was called. We later learned she not only broke her nose but had a broken collar bone. She never did come back. I don't know what became of Duchess but I imagine she was her ornery self to the end.

Daisy was the most flea bitten grey I've ever seen. She was so flea bitten she looked fiery red. She had a sway back that was as broad as she was tall. Her head looked like she had some arab blood, but she was just a grade mare of unknown heritage. She was close to being the nastiest mare I've ever seen. I don't know why she was a lesson horse because she was just plain nasty to ride & no one wanted to ride her. One day she wasn't there & I'm sure she took that final trailer ride.

I don't know if any of the stable horses were under 20, but I doubt it. It's amazing to think that those horses were that old 40 plus years ago when the average age was 15 years. Maybe they lived long lives because of the girls who loved them. As much as young girls need horses, horses need young girls.