Step 9: Embrace The Hay-ters

I want to take a moment to talk a little bit about a special dude in my life.

*sniff sniff*

No, not my husband (although he's pretty special too). Well, I don't know--what do you call a companion you've been with for nearly twenty years? Four-legged spouse? Significant fur-baby? Whatever. He's my horse, Niles, and he's a total babe.

Maybe he's born with it; maybe it's Neigh-belline.

Niles (pretentious registered name: FF Bey Ovation) and I go way back. Our life-long love affair started in the fall of 1997, when I was on the search for the perfect mount to satiate my ever-growing desire for a show horse. My friends and I piled into a car and drove a few hours away to the barn of an Arabian horse trainer named Lance Curtis, where we anticipated being presented a half-Arabian bay mare for consideration.  Instead, they brought out a skinny, purebred chestnut gelding with chrome for daaaaaays. The rest, as they say, is history.

Love at first derp.

Niles is truly a special gem, and I'm not just saying that because he's mine. Generally speaking, Arabian horses are bred to be extremely specialized, which means that if you want a laid-back western mount, you best not be looking for a horse sired by IXL Nobel Express (unless you have a sick sense of humor). Niles is unique in that he excelled in multiple disciplines beyond the one we intended him for.

He was a Regional Top Five winner in Country English Pleasure...

...a Scottsdale Top Ten winner in Arabian Mounted Native Costume...

...a Youth Nationals Top Twenty winner in Purebred English Show Hack...

...and even went on to win a Scottsdale Reserve Championship in Arabian Hunter Pleasure...

So... yeah. Niles truly is one of a kind, in my book, and it's unlikely I'll ever have another horse like him in my lifetime.  We've been through some rough times together, like barn fallouts and ligament surgery...

Never pass up an opportunity to turn lemons into hilarious lemonade.

...but nineteen years later, we've make it through thick and thin. Niles was never an easy horse to ride--even at 23, his Huckleberry Bey blood makes me feel like I'm riding a controlled explosion (and you can forget ever hacking around on him in a mere snaffle)--but he never ceased to challenge me as an equestrian, and I recently contemplated getting him back into show shape and possibly entering him in a sidesaddle class. But he's earned his retirement, and I certainly wouldn't want to mar his record from the last time I showed him in 2008--three for three in blue ribbons!

Niles never did win a National Championship, but I've considered immortalizing him in a future novel ala Cammie's Choice. Maybe then he'll finally get to wear the blanket of roses he deserves.

TBH he'd probably try to eat them.