Once upon a time many any years ago at the end of a mixed sale in Pietermaritzburg I found this rather large, grey gelding in a rapidly emptying sales yard, reminisces Su Mickleburgh.
Dirty steel grey, 16.3 plus, with a kind eye and generous ears. His legs were clean too, although the knees, understandably considering its age, still a bit open. My catalogue told me he was a 2 y-old NZ import belonging to Mr Cyril Hurwitz and had been passed out of the ring No bids, unsold.
Being chicken I asked my husband David to make Mr Hurwitz a “cheeky” offer as I fancied this grey as a “business” horse. David can sell ice to an Eskimo and came back having made a deal with Mr Hurwitz. A peppercorn R500 but the horse was never to go back on the track – so we changed his name to a Famous Cruiser – the one that san the Bismark.
As we led him out of his stall, he clumsily tripped on his soup plate hooves, fell onto his knees but phlegmatically got up and slouched amiably to our horsebox. Back home we found he was not head shy but badly quarter shy. We found two indistinct old wheals where damaged hair follicles resulted in a frizzy rough stripe along his quarters and partly on his flank spoke of harsh treatment with a whip or stick. We worked on this problem. Not surprisingly he hated the sight of a stick.
I started lunging him without the aid of a whip using an umfaan to lead him to the outer circle. He learnt quickly and soon knew all the verbal aids.
Then Pippa took him over and rode through the guava orchard to our dressage arena to start his re-schooling. We all watched and after just one lesson he came onto the bit, started using himself properly, stopped falling about and began to look like something. The children took him up to the track on our farm and timed him over 1000 meters – so fast he was that we thought they had made an error with the stop watch. But it was true, he was very very fast. But it made no matter afterall we had promised Mr Hurwitz…….
Then just a month later Pippa hacked him over the hill to a little local dressage show where he created a sensation winning all three novice events. He continued to thrive, muscled in the right places his cadence gave me goose pimples. His fame spread and he was head hunted by a Jo’burg rider who stabled with a prominent teacher. Reluctantly we sold him under his new name and for a fair profit – we were sad to see him go but afterall he had been bought as a “business” horse. Never show him a stick we warned his owner and his teacher..
Later David noticed that he was “back on the track” in Cape Town – his new owners had traced him through the NZ brand he carried. The Jockey Club transfer had apparently been manipulated by the new owner.. Our big grey won his first outing, and his second, and his third and his fourth and his fifth and his sixth and his seventh. On the trot. No Tellytrack then of course, but David was working in the press room at the time and saw he was always ridden “hands and heels” and no whip. I was worried and awaited the storm from Mr Hurwitz. It never came.
We like to believe that this fairy story ended with the big gentle grey living happily ever after. With no whip.
