My mom gave me a coffee table book on Andalusian horses. The photography is stunning. Andalusians are my favorite horses and I had the pleasure of owning one when I was in my 20's.
Flash back:
I was working at the theraputic riding center for the disabled (how ironic that my own son would be a rider there) as a stable manager. We leased out the "pasture" (big hunk of nothing but dirt and a few trees) next door to people who wanted their horses turned out 24/7. Two people stopped paying boarding fees and legally became property of the center.
The director told me to bring one of the horses over so they could evaluate it, it was going to auction. I walked out there and I picked the sorry thing out of the bunch. He was a big bay horse with a very long tangled thick mane & tail. His hooves were over grown and his winter coat was starting to shed. He let me walk right up to him and lead him off. I brought him back to the center and started to groom him. There was an instant bond with this poor thing. The director came out and looked at the horse, she then looked at it's teeth (that's how you guess the age). She mumbled something about "dog food" and that brought my attension real quick. Seems the horse was in advanced age and his legs did not look sound. I offered to buy him on the spot. The center sold him to me for $1.00. Yep, ONE dollar.
I named the horse Whiskey and he was the kindest and gentlest horse I've ever known. Even though his legs looked like shit, he was sound. I ended up showing him at little local fun shows, the kids in our family all learned how to ride before they could walk and Whiskey even appeared in a promotion for our local cable company. Every time I'd come up to his stall, Whiskey would whinney to me. That horse saved me from self distruction and a bad relationship. And in a round about way, it was because of that horse I met my husband (but that's another story). Cancer finally took that nobel beast, Whiskey was well into his 30's when he crossed the rainbow bridge. I miss that horse with the kind eyes and the velvet nose.
