Dream or Reality?
It was the week after Rolex and I was back at school. My mom was working on the adoption paperwork for Mindanao. The MMSC requires a professional, personal, and veterinarian’s reference letter. They also require photos of where the horse will live and other information. My mom had further discussions with Robin to make sure that it made sense for the business to pay the adoption fees for a horse. Robin was very much on board. She reminded my mom that their relationship started with horses. First Robin met my grandmother in Florida in the late 1980’s. She would go to my grandmother’s house to ride my mom’s old pony club horse, Antares. My mom lived in California at the time because my dad was in the Navy. My parents moved back to Florida in 1990 and were eventually introduced to Robin. In 1994, Robin brought a bunch of her friends and family over to my grandma’s house to build a new barn because she wanted a horse of her own. My mom, my grandma, and Robin all bought horses to put in the new barn. My mom bought an off the track thoroughbred (OTTB) named Max. My grandma bought an OTTB, named Cody. He had already been bought and sold several times. Robin bought a half Arabian/half quarter horse named Dancer. I heard lots of funny stories about those three horses as well as the many boarders that stayed at the farm, which was called Withering Heights Horse Park. Sadly, Dancer and Cody passed away about five years’ ago. Max is now 27, but he acts like he is a three year old.
Robin and my mom worked together for many years and they eventually started their own business, VitalSpirit www.vitalspiritllc.com in October, 2013. The company logo even has three horses running. The company helps finance housing for Native Americans. The horse is very important to Native Americans. Of course, it made sense for the company to adopt a horse. Robin had already moved on to what colors would look good on him and she wanted to look at logo wear for me as well as the horse. After all, he would be their new mascot.
Robin and my mom were ready to proceed with the adoption. My coach was also on board, after I showed her my videos from when I rode Mindanao at Rolex week. Now, I had to get my dad to agree. We already had three horses: Max, Scotty – my mom’s current horse -- and Wish, my current horse. We had a three horse trailer. We were planning on moving back to Florida later this year. Those were all reasons for my dad to say no. However, if you ever watched the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the man likes to think that he is the head of the household, but the women is ok with it because she is the neck and can turn the head in the direction that she wants it to go. My mom and I are pretty good at helping my dad go in the right direction and we were able to convince him that adopting Mindanao was a great opportunity.
Wish and me
My mom (Lorna) and Max
My mom (Lorna) and Scotty
My mom’s next step was to finally make an offer to adopt. When she spoke to MMSC, Susanna mentioned that Mindanao had been selected to participate in the Retired Race Horse Project’s Thoroughbred Makeover https://www.retiredracehorseproject.org/2015-thoroughbred-makeover At first my mom was not very happy about it because Mindanao was only three. We wanted to bring him along very slowly and did not want to have a date that he would have to be ready. We wanted him to be ready on his own schedule. Then Susanna suggested that I call Dorothy Crowell and reminded her that we had met her at the MMSC during Rolex week. Susanna explained that Dorothy was a pretty big name in the eventing world and that she was a local hero. Susanna also mentioned that Mindanao had been donated by Darley http://www.darleyamerica.com/ and that the Sheikh wanted one of his horses to participate in the makeover. My mom didn’t really know what to think of this elaborate story. All we wanted was to adopt a horse. She called Dorothy, who was very down to earth and assured my mom that she would not push a three year old beyond his capabilities. She would concentrate on ground work and would not push his baby brain. She thought that by the time of the makeover that she would show that he could perform an intro dressage test, go over poles on the ground for stadium, and gallop through water and maybe up and down a baby bank. If all went well, she might even be able to adjust his canter stride. After the call, my mom felt very comfortable with the possibility of Mindanao competing in the makeover.
My mom spent some time researching the makeover, Dorothy, Darley, and the Sheikh. She found out that Dorothy was a member of the 1992 and 1996 Olympic teams and was even on a Wheaties cereal box http://eventingnation.com/samanthalclark/dorothy-crowell/ . She also discovered that Darley was an international racing and breeding operation. She also found out that the Sheikh - His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the Vice President of the United Arab Emirates and the Ruler of Dubai http://www.darleyamerica.com/about-us/sheikhmohammed . This story was starting to sound like a movie plot. We laughed about it and then started to get excited about participating in the makeover.
By the time my mom called MMSC back, Susanna had already started working on a plan B for the makeover. Darley had another horse that they would donate and Dorothy would likely ride that horse. They had just gelded the new horse and they would have to wait several days to see if he would be a good fit for Dorothy and the makeover. This horse was more compact (Mindanao was tall and his rump was still higher than his withers) and seemed a better fit. We were disappointed, but decided to wait and see how everything worked out. In the meantime, Dorothy was still talking to my mom about her plans for the makeover. She was kind enough to invite our family out to her farm for several weeks so we could work together if Mindanao was her horse for the makeover. She hadn’t been able to visit with the new horse so as far as she knew, it was still undecided as to which horse she would use. Dorothy was getting a little anxious as well since she was getting such a late start to the makeover.
Finally, about a week later, a decision was made and the new horse passed his vet check and would be Dorothy’s makeover horse. Dorothy knew that we were disappointed and she tried to come up with a Plan C for us. One of her top students, in cooperation with Dorothy, would take Mindanao to the makeover. She found a place that would board him and helped come up with an estimate of expenses. Her student, Erin Strader, was generous enough to give us a discount on her training fees. I could still come out to participate in the training. Everything sounded great. If we only lived closer, it would have been perfect. It would be difficult and expensive for my family to spend time together in Kentucky. Paying for the board was an expense that we wouldn’t have if we brought him home. Since he is only three, the most important training is the ground work. My trainer, Chris Pope, is very experienced with ground training. There is an indoor arena that we ride at a few times a week. We started taking dressage lessons from Landers Dressage http://www.landersdressage.com/ and they have a lot of experience breeding, and training dressage horses. My mom called Chris Pope and Linda Landers and asked if they could help teach Mindanao and me the tools that I would need to bring along this young horse. They all agreed that it takes a village to teach and decided that they would help me get ready for the makeover. My mom called the MMSC and scheduled the pre-purchase exam and called Dorothy to thank her for all of her generosity. We had made the decision to adopt him and we wanted to bring him home