The last time I competed on one of my own horses was in 1999. It was a filly I bought at the spectacular horse when they tried to put on a horse sale. It was a complete bust and they where begging people to get a buys number. I wasn't showing that year I was there to just watch. The two year old sold on Friday, the brood mares, yearlings and broke older horses sold on Saturday.
I felt I didn't have a nice enough horse to show at a futurity. My horse was sixteen hand and towered over everyone else there. At the time reining horse where(typy)reiners, they where little, round and cute with big flowing mains, mine was big, not that good of a loper with an expressive tail and not so cute, he had no real mane to speek of.
His name is Seven S Solano and he was a great horse to train. He was my first reiner I ever rode or trained for that mater. He was the best teacher and friend I could ask for, and I did ask for him, I prayed on it. It was this acre in my heart that I needed a great horse to ever be taken seriously as trainer. He was forgiving to a falt. I didn't know what I was doing, I'd never ridden a reiner before let alone train one. I made so many mistake reading everything I could find and then trying it out. Through trial and error we figured it out together. I bought him as a long yearly in the hopes that I could brake into the show world. I had traded two painting and two thousand dollar for him. He was a big size baby but his sire was only around 15 hands and his dam 14.3 he must be a early bloomer and would stop growing soon. He was the best baby I could find for that price, wild eyed snorting at everything with really bad feet, two full cracks up the fronts. He had been running in a herd on a mountain and hadn't been touch so I figured with some tender loving care I could fix his feet. I was able to keep him sound but never got rid of the cracks and lean a valueble lessons feet.
In my mind I need a better horse I'm still not getting clients and I had already won a lot on him.
Won the Free Style Reining class two years in row and bridles both years but I still didn't have paying show clients. The first person to compete bridle-less in competition and nothing. I needed a new horse, one with the look they want. I tried to sell him for some discent money but couldn't get him sold, I couldn't even get people to come look at him. I had no money but my friends and I decide to stay and watch the two year olds sell just for fun. Oh man they were just giving them away, one really nice horse after another. All night long I sat there and watch these already started two year old go for around two thousand dollars. I felt sick I didn't have even that amount of money.
The next morning I woke to the thought still in my head. I need to get me one of these horses. We looked all the yearlings over, like always I pick out the ones I liked pretending we where real buyers.
Some horses just stand out to you, you don't know why, they just shine. Zan Parr Express was a horse I had only seen in a photo, he stood in dry grass feild in Texas He was anverage looking Chestnut but the photo stuck in my mind and I even marked to page by folding the corner down.
I had four fillies picked out three of them where by Zan Parr Express. I could not believe my luck someone hauled some of his babies to my area and I have no money.
With my notes and chattering about what one I like most a girl from the sale office stopped me and asked if I had a buyers number yet I ask if they took credit joking. She said no but they would hold a check a few days until I could get to my bank to diposit money, they needed buyer real bad. I filled out the paper work and got my first buyers number, I was so nervous I had never done anything like this before, my husand was going to kill me. I had twenty two hundred dollars limit on the card so I couldn't get to far in. The first filly on my list was black and very pretty and went way over my limit, the second a red roan who went over just a few hundred. I had two more left a chestnut and a palomino. I hadn't look the Chestnut filly over much I had my eye on color and she was kind a plain but if the palomino went over my limit I would not get one at all. This was my shot the chestnut filly.
Into the sales arena the chestnut filly walk calmly, she was nice, you could see her sweet disposition right way. Her right front leg turned out a little, I didn't like that. The biding begain and I stated putting up my number, at the fifteen hunderd bit I got overly excited, I wasn't sure where the bid was at and the auctionier stop talking, he leaned over at me and said "Honey you already have the bid are you sure you want to up your bid." I put my number down and sank in my chair, everyone laughted, buy the time the biding restarted but no one esle bid, I think they understood I really wanted this filly, I held the bid at fifteen. I was embarrassed but so excited, I just bought my first horse at an auction. I'll Be Expressin Myself was kind of a weird name but Wow, I just bought a horse. Time to find the owner and make arangment. He had put the filly back in her stall buy the time we made it out there. The man that brought these Zan Parr Express babies from texas was not happy but he wasn't going to haul them back and he let them sell for nothing in his book. The only thing he said to me was "You just got a really nice filly, I hope you do something with her and walk off."
I was so excited I didn't mind his shortness and understood his frustration I started making plans to get her home. I was there in my car, I would need to find someone to haul her for me. Man, my husband is going to kill me.
He was mad when I told him but I didn't care, I need this horse.
When she arrived a few days later, I put her out in a run to let her play. It was small and L shaped and she took off running around the corner and slid to a stop and back again with a little bit more speed. misjudging her stopping distance she slip right through the hot wire fence. My husband turned and started walking off, I said "did you see that? He replied "yes your new horse is out." "No, not that, did you see that slid, It must have been thirty feet long" I replied, he just shook his head and kept walking. He did get over his irration about the horse sooner than I thought, actually he kind of liked her, it was hard not to, she was the sweetest mare I had ever owned and still to this day she is my favorate mare.
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