Dusty, more history

The first year S had Dusty, he was everything she hoped he'd be: they won class after class, and took home championships and year-end awards in AA rated shows, Massachusetts and New England. The following year was pretty much the same.

Dusty in Massachusetts, now owned by S:



Then Dusty started having lameness problems. These frustrated S, and she started to get irritable. At shows, she'd have temper tantrums by the trailer if anyone, human or animal, annoyed her in any way. One time, it was the night before a show, she was in his stall banding his mane. She had given him a flake of hay to keep him occupied and quiet.I was there in the stall with them, she and I chatting and Dusty quietly eating. It was a very pleasant evening; until Dusty, in quest of a more delectable bit of hay and in his own world, moved his foot... and stepped on hers.

The screech scared ME. The sheer volume hurt my ears. I think poor Dusty nearly had a heart attack, and he didn't know what had happened. He cowered in the corner, wild-eyed.

I've been stepped on before. Yes, it hurts. But good god almighty, that was simply uncalled for.

Her sudden outbursts were taking a toll on him. He started getting jumpy, and she started to not like him - he wasn't "push button" any more. She'd had his hocks injected in the off-season and he was still getting ribbons, but he always seemed tense, not sure when the next outburst would happen.

Then at one show he bucked her off outside the gate. I was at that show but not present for the wild west exhibition; she said he did it on purpose and she couldn't trust him anymore.

Oh, please. I truly believe he was stung or startled by something. He has never been mean, even when he was scared.

So that was pretty much the end of Dusty for her, even though she had him for a couple of years more. She rode him to the end of that show season, but her temper was always at the boil, and he was always on tenterhooks - as we all were - around her.

The following year she got herself a Palomino baby to show in hand, and she asked me to show Dusty for her, towards getting him sold. I did, but I've never been much into showing - Bonnie hated it and it was a lot of effort for... a lot of effort. And with S so focused on getting Dusty a buyer, if I wasn't doing what she expected of me she would scream at me from the rails, which was embarrassing. I only rode hunt-seat at the time, so the rest of Western Pleasure King Dusty's show career was English, not Western.

We still managed to pull in a couple of year-end awards, but with more reds than blues in total - and that was a disappointment to S as well.

I've decided to break this one up into pieces. Part 2 to follow...