CEDAR LODGE |
Home Contact us Site Map |
|
Governor (Show name Shadow Fax) “They’re
willing to give him away for free.” It wasn’t the first time I had
heard that before, and I wasn’t in the mood. It was mid July, hot and
humid. We were half way through a busy summer season and the last thing
on my mind was the desire to take on another horse. Any horse, but
especially this horse. My sister in law sat across from me at the lunch
table and was pleading the case. The horse in question was a mid aged
thoroughbred gelding. He had been sitting out in someone’s field for
the last three years. Previous to that he had been used for eventing,
but had had a horrible accident and x-rays had shown some fractures of
the vertebrae in his back. The veterinarian had felt that with time,
the fractures may heal enough for the horse to be usable, but how much
time, or how well they would heal was an unknown. “He’s big, got to be 16.2,” Nan went on. “and he’s an attractive gray”. “He sounds very nice.” I replied. “But frankly, unless his owners will give me permission to resell him if he doesn’t stay sound or doesn’t work out, I just can’t take on another horse right now.” The thoroughbred’s owner’s wouldn’t budge. They were willing to give their horse away, but they wanted a guarantee that he was going to stay put where they gave him to. I couldn’t give that guarantee. That was when Nan decided to step in. Nan had ridden jumpers through her junior years and  owned her own horse until she had gone away to college. College, a
husband (my brother) and three children (Allison, Kali and Kendra) had
come since then and horses sadly had been put to the side. After a bit
of thought and a family meeting, Nan decided to take on the big gray
herself and bring him out to Cedar Lodge to board. The gray gelding came the following week. He was indeed 16.2, probably more like 16.3. He was a flea bitten gray, and attractive mover and a kind eye. Nan and family named him Governor. The hope was that Gov. would be a horse for Nan to ride, and eventually Allison, Kali and Kendra would be able to show him as well. Over the years, Governor was ridden by Nan and all three girls. With bunches of riding from the girls and a bit of help from Chris and I, Governor made the transition from eventing to Hunters over the following years. Gov. was a beautiful mover with a athletic jump, but he had little training as to slow and steady, and had a tendency to get faster and faster as he progressed with his courses. Never the less, Allison, then Kali and finally Kendra took turns showing him on the LMHJA show circuit and all had their own success. Gov. still had some problems with soundness and occasionally had to be given time off when his back would give him problems, but over the many years that he has been at Cedar Lodge, he has had more on times than off.  After Allison, Kali and Kendra were off to
other horses, Governor started his life as part of the Cedar Lodge
string. Gov. turned out to be an excellent intermediate and advanced
jumping class horse and to this day, that is his specialty. In the
non-summer season, Governor is often leased to one of the Cedar Lodge
riders who are then nice enough to allow Gov to be used in the school
string during the summer. Governor is also often taken as a Cedar Lodge Show Team horse, for anywhere from appropriate cross rail riders, up through 2’9” classes and he is usually in the ribbons. We feel awful lucky to have Governor around all these years, and are hoping to have him around for years to come. I suppose Nan has ever right to be happy with the chance she took on a big rangy gray so many years ago and I guess she has every right to gloat, just a little. It’s ok however, I think we all won with Governor. |