Meeting Mom

Archie arrived as an orphan of the storm, a mysterious Kansas cow pony who knew little about cows, and less about how to catch them. He seemed obliging but mystified by neck reining, ground tying and western saddles, but then, so am I.

What Archie did have--were his American Quarter Horse Papers, which are akin to our birth certificates. It shows who his dam and sire are, and three generations back, but not what hospital he was born in. Knowing nothing about quarter horses, but mindful of the Connecticut Cowboy's boasting about Archie's genetic heritage, I used a google search for his sire and found his sister, a supercilious looking barrel -racing palomino who was for sale for $15,000. She kind of looked like him around the ankles.

Finding his human mother was a little more challenging. I googled his breeder's name (a Louisville basketball coach came up) and sent a daring e-mail to his school account, which was forwarded to the farm he'd sold Archie to when he was a weanling, and bingo--Elise, who'd raised him from a baby, e-mailed me back. I love the internet.

Archie (or "Snip")grew up on Elise's Louisville farm with two stable mates who found new homes when they were three, and grown, but Archie stayed. And stayed. He became a family pet who preferred humans to horses. Elise waited until he was three to ride him as he was growing fast, and only managed to squeeze in a couple of "backings" before he was four, when he went to auction at the Stockyards.

So how did he get to Kansas? By auction and by truck with a bunch of other midwestern hopefuls, but apparently Kansas did not take to Archie,  nor, given his dramatic loss of weight and general state of neglect, did he.  Arch was sold again (at a Kansas auction) to Connecticut and The Cowboy-- who sold him to me for what Elise and I figured out, was profit,profit, profit. Elise, who raised him, fed him, nursed him through a terrible disease called  Strangles, had him wormed and vaccinated and taught him how to lead and have his feet cleaned and brush his teeth, and trained him to run around the Pirelli ring (his report card said 'good at games') of course, saw none of that. The horse business is not, apparently, one for those with an appetite for financial security.

Elise and I have been exchanging  photos and e-mails (that's Archie aged 3 right side of palomino) as we have agreed to an open adoption, and I have promised that I will keep her informed about Archie/Snip's progress and she will let me know how his brother, still back at the farm, is doing. She remembers Arch as one of the sweetest horses she has ever known. Me too.

---

Archie's Pop

---

Stallion Record

---

Toms Investment

---

2469720; 1986; Palomino; Height: 15.2; N/A; (The Invester x My Elegant Lady);

---

Comments

[Term Papers]

Certainly the horse business is not, apparently, one for those with an appetite for financial security.