I’ve been thinking about horses since yesterday.
In mid-afternoon, I had a consultation with my orthopedic surgeon Dr. Parry about my bum right shoulder. We’re contemplating arthroscopic surgery to repair my labrum. However, the doctor is trying some cortisone injections first to see if that helps.
He asked me again yesterday, “How long ago did you injure it?” The short answer is about five months ago when something popped as I was lifting about 50 pounds of Christmas decorations off of a high storage rack.
However, as I told him, the shoulder has been stiff and weak since an equestrian mishap maybe a dozen years ago. I fell off my quarterhorse “Louie” during a cattle “sorting” exercise in an arena, landed on my outstretched right hand, and the force went straight up to my shoulder where it tore up some muscles, tendons, and stuff. Subsequently, I had rotator cuff surgery which was partially successful.
So, I had Louie on my mind when I came home from the doctor’s office.
Later, as I was preparing dinner and turned on the TV to kill time, a movie was just starting and Charlie and I found ourselves watching it. The movie was Seabiscuit, a horse racing flick starring Jeff Bridges, Tobey Maguire and William Macy. It was an interesting drama, we got caught up in it and ended up watching the whole thing.
Seabiscuit was lightly-regarded as a youngster because no one could figure out what made him tick. Eventually, a new owner, trainer, and jockey found the combination to his immense “heart”, and he went on to be a great champion. He beat the 1937 Triple Crown winner “War Admiral” in a two-horse match race at Pimlico racecourse and was named Horse of the Year in 1938. He and his regular jockey, Red Pollard, later experienced severe injuries but recovered sufficiently to, against all odds, win the Santa Anita Handicap, the most famous race on the West Coast.
The movie got me thinking about my “Louie” and another horse that I knew quite well, “Yogi”.
I got into horse riding and competing by accident, really. I met a guy named Ed Metzler through a charity that my wife was involved with (National Assistance League). He had a nearby ranch and he invited me to go on a trail ride with him. I was around 55 years old at the time and had never really ridden horses. We had a great time, struck up a friendship, and he began to teach me how to “cowboy”. I had no idea at the time what a great horseman Ed was; I realized later that my instructor was a top-notch quarterhorse breeder, trainer, and champion rider. My instruction was free and I got to use Ed’s quality horses. Ed was a very fine man, to boot, and I think he liked my companionship out at his ranch and on trail rides.
Ed’s go-to horse in arena competitions (gymkhana, sorting, and cutting) at the time was named “Yogi”. Much like Seabiscuit, Yogi was misunderstood when he was young and his multiple owners tried to make him something he wasn’t. He was fast and so he was trained to be a quarter-miler for the track at Los Alamitos. That didn’t work out, so somebody tried to make him a roping horse. Nope: Yogi was freaked out by rope swinging near his head. Eventually, Ed Metzler got ahold of Yogi and discovered the horse’s true calling: arena competitions. By the time I met Ed and Yogi, that horse was essentially the “king” of such competitions in Southern California. He was an outstanding barrel racer, keyhole racer, pole racer, and excellent sorting horse.
Yogi had something that Seabiscuit had, as well. It was an extra gear, kind of like “warp drive” in the spaceship Milennium Falcon (Star Wars). When Yogi shifted into this gear, particularly in barrel races, after rounding the last barrel, he could ride out from underneath you. The acceleration was so pronounced that even Ed, an expert competitor, would have to hold onto the pommel to stay aboard his equine dragster. Yogi was scary fast, and his competition always knew that they were competing for second place.
After a few years, I developed into a decent rider and moved up to better horses on Ed’s ranch. Eventually, I entered minor-league competitions and did well. At one local riding club contest, I won 5 of the seven gymkhana events riding on Ed’s second-string horse. After that, I began riding Yogi, as he was getting older (but still beating everyone!) and Ed was focusing his training and riding on a yearling named “Classy”.
Unfortunately, right before the annual “Big Ride” of our riding club of about 100 horsemen, Yogi injured a hoof and I wasn’t able to compete on him at the championship rodeo. I did ride Ed’s wife’s old horse “Doctor” in the pole racing competition and, with Yogi not in the competition, I won.
After the disappointment with Yogi, and realizing that I was a decent rider, I was hooked on equestrian stuff (and burned out on golfing), so Ed and Charlie conspired to get me my own horse. “Louie” was his name, and he was a 5-year-old quarterhorse whose sire and dam were both “Doc Bar” progeny. (Doc Bar is considered one of the greatest quarterhorse sires in history.)
“Louie” was another horse who took some time finding his calling. He was a sturdy, handsome guy with speed and agility. I actually obtained him from Ed’s equestrian vet Mike Hoge, who had tried to develop Louie into a roping horse. Unfortunately, Louie wasn’t patient enough to “wait on” a cow; he would impulsively want to race the scared thing and frustrate the rider/roper. So, Mike had no use for him. I did, however, as Louie was good at everything else like cattle sorting, gymkhana events, and trail riding. With the latter, he was cool, calm, and collected, actually better than Ed’s horses. Louie and I used to go alone on long trail rides in the Cleveland National Forest: what fun!
Louie was very good with cattle. He instinctively knew who was boss out there in the arena and pushed those cows wherever we needed them to go. Horses aren’t geniuses but they are smarter than cows. That plus their size equals intimidation. Louie also had great moves in the arena and was not in the least bothered by chasing a cow into a wall at top speed to turn it. In fact, it was one of those surprisingly quick moves that left me 8’ in the air and heading for the dirt that caused my right shoulder injury.
Horses are peculiar animals. They can be trained to do a lot of things, but they are not the smartest critters God ever made. A “tame” horse is still 90 percent wild, in my opinion, and a very instinctive animal. Horses are “prey”, rather than predator, creatures so they have a well-developed “flight” instinct. A rider needs to keep his wits about him when he and his mount are out on the trail. Any surprises, like a sudden noise or appearance of a barking dog, can freak out even a well-trained horse. I got unseated once when a clever, asshole dog jumped out from behind a bush where he was lying in wait and startled Louie. My horse chucked me into a pile of leaves and sauntered ¼ mile back to the barn by himself.
While I was into riding with Ed Metzler, I had the opportunity to become better friends with one of his neighbors, Keith Card, who was already a friend of ours and was a leading breeder of thoroughbred horses in Southern California. We used to go to the races to watch Keith’s horses compete. One of the tracks we visited was Santa Anita where Keith had an “owner’s box”.
The movie Seabiscuit was filmed at that famous track, and watching the movie reminded me of one great day that Keith, Ed, me, and some other guys had there. Keith had four horses running that day: two at Bay Meadows, up north, and two at Santa Anita. We all pooled some bucks to bet on the first race at Bay Meadows: Keith’s horse won. We took our winnings and put it on the next race, at Santa Anita: Keith’s horse won. The “let it ride” principle was successful again in the third race, at Bay Meadows. So, we shoved all the dough into the pot for the feature race at Santa Anita, which Keith’s horse “California Flag” won. Yippee, what a day!
Later that year, California Flag, who was the grandson of Triple Crown winner “Seattle Slew”, won the Breeder’s Cup mile at Churchill Downs in Kentucky. It was a career-defining win for Keith Card, as the Breeder’s Cup is the pinnacle of horse racing.
Louie and I enjoyed each other for about five years. Then, the Rancho California Caballeros riding club agenda changed (to fewer competitions) and I got bored. I shifted my attention to my grandson Craig and got involved with golf again.
Louie’s new owners had a large spread next to the Ronald Reagan ranch near Santa Barbara and, as Louie was only about 10 years old when we parted, he could look forward to at least 20 years of happiness in sumptuous horse country. What a lucky bastard!
I miss Louie; he and I were buddies and our shared experience together with Ed Metzler and the equestrian community was one of the highlights of my life.