Bittersweet Goodbyes

I've blogged about this horse before, and I've been so proud to call her mine.  We had her since she was a yearling, and she's now 16 years old.  My son ... who is now 29, 'started' her when he was about 15, and she was at times a handful.  She was always a big mare, and she knew it.  She was never  intentionally devious, but she could get scared pretty easy, and as big as she was, she could move a long way in a short time.  I don't think she ever really bucked though, and my son won lots of trophies on her, while he used her for 4-H.  She was the Quarter Horse Filly of the Western Idaho Fair as a 2 year old.  He was real proud of that!  Evan graduated and Katie went on to use Planet.  More trophies came their way, and Planet just continued to get better.  We had lots of horse come and go, thru the years, but Planet just kind of was a good "all round' Horse.  My youngest had a colt of his own when he was doing the last 3 years or so of his 4-H career, but he rode her from time to time also. 

When the kids were all gone, I rode her just for whatever, and then I decided to show her too.  "Showing" really wasn't her "thing" but we did that for about 2 years, and she did bring home some awards. 

What I used her for was Endurance Riding.  She LOVED going for miles and miles.  And she loved that I just "let" her go.  She's a registered Quarter horse, with running blood, and it showed.  She could go 25 miles in just under 3 hours, and still seem fresh.  She is a grand daughter of Dash for Cash.  She was one of the first pretty nice horses I ever owned.  I was never much for knowing about breeding and pedigrees, but even I knew about Dash for Cash.

Here is a little about him

He is currently the number 2 all-time leading sire by earnings, and the sire of the number 1, First Down Dash. He sired 827 winners (145 stakes winners) from 1,155 starters and the earners of $39,990,245. He is currently number 5 all-time sire by winners. He is currently the all time leading broodmare sire by earnings at $56,104,925. He is currently number 2 all time broodmare sire by winners with 2027 winners (235 stakes winners) from 3154 starters. He is probably the most important modern sire in the Quarter Horse industry. He shows up in the first three generations in 9 of the 10 top earning horses for 2006 as an example.

This statue stands in Amarillo, Texas in his name.

A classic photograph of a great champion: Milt Martinez caught Dash For Cash at the moment of one of the stallion's greatest triumphs, with Jerry Nicodemus standing in the irons as they win their first Champion of Champions in track-record time.

From the cover of The Quarter Racing Record, January 15, 1978:

Dash For Cash, with Jerry Nicodemus aboard, gains a length and one-quarter triumph over Azure Three and Bar Roula in the $100,000 Champion of Champions to become the first horse ever to win the event twice. The race was run on December 17 at Los Alamitos Race Course. Phillips Ranch and King Ranch, Inc., own the four-year-old son of Rocket Wrangler--Find A Buyer, by To Market, who was trained by Charles "Bubba" Cascio.

If you'd like to read more about Dash for Cash

Dash for Cash

I have an old mare who I  will have til she dies.  At the time I bought Planet, the old mare was 10, but she had got pretty sick.  I was on my way home from the vet with her, and stopped by my friend Max Robert's house.  He could tell I was upset, because the vet had just told me she wasn't going to live.  Max had me go out to see the new filly he had just brought home from the Billingsly Creek Ranch sale.  To make a story short, he gave me a deal for the filly, and I loaded her up and took her home with me and my mare that very day.  I'm not usually impulsive, but she was so gorgeous, and I was depressed! heeeheee.  I could already tell she was a hot headed filly, as she struck out when I went to pet her.  Why I took her home is still odd to me, but I was in awe of her looks I guess.  Apparently I was right, she fit right in. 

There were times I hated her hot headed self that she was, but she was one of those that just never gave up.  She would go and go and go.  She was never tired, and there was never anything she couldn't do.  She might not want to, but she could.

In the last few years, she also became a great baby sitter for kids.  I would NEVER have believed it of her, if I hadn't seen it for myself, time after time.  She took such great care of those kids, and if she felt them get off balance, she simply stopped and waited for them to 'right' themselves.  She would barely creep around with the kids that might be nervous.  She just knew.  She'd stand patiently as long as it took for them to climb on and off her.

It was funny, cuz then I could get on, and she'd be a handful again, or if Wayne rode her, she'd be a racing fool to catch a calf.

  Our niece did a rodeo (Bruneau Junior Round Up) and Planet showed her speed. 

Like Grandfather Like Granddaugher...

Last year I leased her to a young girl who I now consider a Grand daughter.  Planet taught her to ride, English and Western.  They also loved jumping  whatever came along.

Below is one of my favorite pics of Al and Planet.  Planet is soft and listening to Al. 

My Grandson riding her and lovin' every minute.  How pretty is that mare!  You can see from the expression on his face, that this is they way it should be on a horse.  Happy

This is maybe the last time I rode her.  Playing the ribbon race with Al at the Play day we went to in October. 

This is a day I took my friend Sharon to the Top of the World!

Al's Mom,

Some kids that just wanted a ride

It was time for Planet to go and show another young girl the fun of Horsemanship.  She now belongs to a 14 year old girl, who was so excited to have her.  We took them to the Optimst Park so she could ride her around.  She told her Dad, "She does everything!"

Both Wayne and I had a lot of misgivings about selling her.  I mean, who sells a horse that can be used for everything?  But the thing is, we have several of them.  We just can't keep them all.  Planet really needed to move on and be really important to a young girl.  I feel real good about where she went.  I picked this girl for her.  We had her advertised for a couple months, and we actually "didn't" sell to a few people, that just didn't seem to be the right match.  Wrong or not, she was still my horse.  This young girl was soooooooo excited, I felt it was right.  Planet now lives near MacKay.  I wish her the very best, and I hope she makes them as happy as it looks like it began.

This young girl got a great horse. 

Please take care.