A Thoroughbred Family Affair

April 14, 2008

It’s no secret that I’m incredibly partial to thoroughbreds, especially giving new life (over jumps!) to ones off the track. I don’t know if I was born with that passion. But if I wasn’t, I certainly gained it through plain old experience.

Without tons of money to spend on our equestrian endeavors, I suppose my range of horses to ride and show was relatively limited. It started with Smoke, the quarter horse gelding who was my first show pony. When I was ready to move up in the ranks, my only other option was my mom’s young off-the-track thoroughbred mare Penny.

Princess L’Heureux

Penny’s registered name is Princess L’Heureux (French for “happy” and the bane of my showing existence). She was quite a challenge for an intermediate 12-year-old rider. The winter after Smoke and I went to the State 4-H horse show, I started learning to ride Penny. She’s incredibly talented, but also highly sensitive. She has the very springy trot characteristic of her breed and a lot of bouncy energy. It was all I could do to stay on let alone get good transitions, collection, and bend. That winter was filled with many battles and lots of hard work. But it paid off.

As usual, I went to my first show with Penny with mom’s warnings not to expect ribbons — just do my best. And as was typical after riding as best I could and not thinking about ribbons, I came away with two firsts, a second, a third, and fifth. It was an open show too, so my thoroughbred was placing well in large hunter classes filled with Arabs and Saddlebreds.

It was a good start to a good show season, where Penny and I placed first in Hunter Hack at the 4-H District show (like I had the year before with Smoke) and headed the to the State competition. I loved Penny because she had such a fun personality, was a challenging ride, and is the one horse mostly responsible for making me into a good rider. I also loved that she was a flashy steely dapple gray with black points, a beautiful head, great conformation, and great movement. She garned tons of attention wherever we went. And I was incredibly proud of her and to be her privileged rider.

The next summer we showed 4-H and went to states again, as well as several schooling Hunter shows and the A-rated Hartwood Showjumping Festival AHSA (now USEF) show. But that’s another story for another day.

That winter, I had almost reached my final height of 5′8″, and my tall spindly frame didn’t make the prettiest picture on my 15.1 (and a half) hand tall mare.

Jacques L’Heureux

In the time that I was riding and showing Penny, our instructor and trainer friend Carol had bought Penny’s father, also unfortunately named Jacques L’Heureux. He was known around the barn as Big Jack. He had been a stakes winning racehorse and stud, who was finally gelded at the age of 11. Amazingly, he settled down into a manageable horse doing basic dressage and hunters.

Then, Carol decided to go to Germany for a year and a half to study dressage, and was leaving Big Jack behind. She arranged for him to stay at my friend Lindsay’s house just up the road from Little Neshannock Stables. And he became my horse for the year.

We had a large hay field cut short for our riding arena and jump standards and PVC pipe poles for jump training. Frequently that summer, Lindsay and I would ride our horses across the fields to ride in the actual arenas at LNS.

Big Jack was a little more down to earth than his illustrious daughter, but was sensitive and very light on my aids. While he was mostly level-headed, he had a stubborn streak that was obviously connected to his many years as a stud. He’d get pretty mad and very resistant if he didn’t want to do something. Once, he was so adamant that he didn’t want to back up after rushing a fence that he reared up, overbalanced with my weight, and fell over backwards with me. I was fine, and more worried about my new saddle than anything. My mom and Lindsay were pretty freaked out; it was over before I knew what had happened, but went in slow motion for my onlookers. I got right back up on him and continued to ride, jump, and show Big Jack that summer.

Besides that rearing accident, the clearest memory I have of Big Jack is galloping him cross-country between Lindsay’s and LNS. Once I was making the trek by myself, and let him loose across a recently mown hay field.

There aren’t words to describe what it felt like to fly through the air on a former stakes-winning racehorse.

I knew of the thoroughbred’s big heart and athletic ability from Penny’s love of jumping, but I actually got to feel a thoroughbred with a passion to run. It was up there among one of my most defining horse experiences. And it made me appreciate the breed even more.

But although Big Jack was athletic and a talented racehorse, his form left a lot to be desired for a hunter.

Lord L’Heureux

After the year with Big Jack, I started riding his son (and Penny’s half-brother) Little Jack, who had been acquired by LNS. He was still a little too much of a handful to be used in lessons, so I got to ride him for free that year.

Little Jack didn’t have the same pretty jumping form that Penny did, but he was very willing and had beautiful gaits. He was the first horse I ever rode that I had a natural connection with. With every other horse I’d had to work for it, even Penny. But Little Jack and I just clicked. He responded well to me and I loved to ride him. He loved to jump and would rush after fences, but would come down when asked.

Little Jack and I only ever competed in one show, but it was successful. This time, I didn’t get any reminders from mom not to expect ribbons. While we didn’t come out and say it, we both knew Jack and I were a good team and expected to do well. And we did. It was a relaxing, but very successful, show. It sticks out in my mind as one of my most enjoyable showing experiences.

To this day, I can get on Little Jack and have an instant connection. It’s like he knows it’s me and automatically starts carrying himself and focusing.

When I can afford my own horse, I want one like Little Jack.

While the three L’Heureuxs (pronounced Leh-Her if you wondering) shared an unfortunate name, they also shared good conformation and athleticism, great personalities, and big hearts. They were my teachers and my friends. And they are the reason why I love thoroughbreds — and always will.

Posted in Jackie's Thoughts, Riding and showing, Women and Horses