Blast from the Past! Horse Days

Here you go – dug up some stuff from the teenage website of yours truly when I went hunting for pictures of my old horse on the internet. Sure do miss Wikkit. He’d be 23 now if he’s still alive. Miss you, big guy!

Pictures first, then two letters I wrote around the time I sold him.

Letter to Candi: a request for his dollar worth

Dear Candi,

Hello! This is Rachel Chapman, Dauna’s niece and Lydia’s cousin. Do you remember me? I’m the one with the bay Quarter Horse. Speaking of which, I am writing to ask you for a favor. To put in a better light, I am in need of your expertise!!! 🙂

Becoming the older child that I am becoming… and, indeed, moving on into the earlier stages of adulthood, I am needing to cut back on my monthly expenses in order to afford college spending. Within a month or two, I’ll probably be putting my horse, Wikkit up for sale. The purpose of this letter is to ask you how much you think he’s worth and to get the word out a bit!

Here’s the info. on Wikkit… if you’d like to know anything else, feel free to ask me!!!! :
San Tivio Peppy, out of Reminic Sen Tivio (who’s grandparents include Doc’s Remedy and Poco Tivio) and Lil San Mount Gold (who’s grandparents include Peppy San). He was born April 27, 1990, which makes him almost 12 years old. He’s very healthy and has an incredible shiny coat (even when in the winter-shag). He had an puncture injury to one of his knees which has left it with a small pocket of fluid. It never made him lame and it’s hardly noticeable, although I expect when he’s quite old, the arthritis will hit there first. He’s a bay… and quite red-colored. He’s between 15 and 15-1 hands I think.
He’d make an excellent 4-H horse for and level of 4-Her. He’s the reigning Grand Champion trail horse at the Clackamas County 4-H Horse Fair (the largest in the state!) and was in the championship class at State 4-H fair. He’s also recieved one of two medallions at State 4-H horse fair for Dressage Training level IV. He clips, loads, bathes, obeys voice commands, does western, english, dressage, gaming (but I’d recommend a day of serious focusing exercises between dressage and gaming!), and trail riding. He’s had extensive trail experience… some of the rides on advanced, very difficult trails. He’s been to the beach several times as well. I’ve done very limited jumping with him and he seems to think it’s quite the sport.
You can get this horse to do just about anything for food, but he’s got quite a personality as well. It’s worth noting that he knows how to take care of young riders… he’s very careful with them. And if you’ve got a treat for him, he’ll bow for you.

As I’m sure you’ve noticed, I’m quite attached to him. 😀 I hope I’m not taking too much of your time. He is a well built, stable horse with a really cute head that can do anything you want him to, except be bigger or younger.
I’m tempted to go back and delete all that and give you a more objective description, but I’m not going to, just in case there IS somebody over there that is interested in buying him and wants to know all they can without coming over (we live in Oregon City). Do you have a guess for how much I can get for him? Do you know anybody who is interested? I’ve got english and western tack for him (bridles and all that too). I wonder if I should sell the tack separate or with him?

Within a week or so I’ll have a page on the internet with pictures up of all this… http://www.angelfire.com/or3/emiandrach/Horse_for_sale.htm (go to http://www.angelfire.com/or3/emiandrach if it’s not up yet.)

I apologize for this long and exhaustive letter. Especially when I’m only hoping for a line or two of response! I hope you like Dauna a bunch… otherwise she’s in trouble! 🙂

Thank you so much!

Rachel Chapman
bitsnstuff@yahoo.com

Letter to my parents: a description of the events surrounding my horse’s first interview

hello. I felt like I ought to write, so I wrote. I didn’t finish it. I didn’t start it properly. And I rambled and didn’t get much of actual interest in there. I feel better that I wrote though. I ought to write more. Cuz I like to write.

I am writing a letter right now. I am just thinking about everything that has been happening lately and things that have been happening not quite so recently. And I’ve been thinking that I’m not going to remember it all. What’s the good of having so many neat things happening and so much thinking being done and me not remembering it? I think that I would be glad that I did it if I wrote it all down. I’ve been having a hard time getting myself to sit down and write!

So… I’m just going to write as much as I can in the next few minutes as possible. Course, there’s a Blazer game on right in front of me, so that’ll make it more difficult. On Saturday, we were waiting for a letter from Vonda Crabtree, a lady who has been interested in Wikkit. She was going to let us know when she was able to come up and look at him (from Bend). Anyhow, a little before I was going to leave for church on Sunday another lady called me with some questions about Wikkit. By the time that I told her that I had to leave right away, she’d decided that she liked the sound of Wikkit and asked to see him. Then she jumped it on me: she wanted to come see him that day! Yikeseroo! Sooo… I told her that anytime after 1 was fine and that she could call for directions from mom and dad if she decided to come that day.

As soon as church was over on Sunday (that’s yesterday), I ran out the door. Before I got out the door, though, Jane-Holly stopped me for just a sec and told me that she’d just put in an application for an apartment! f That’s sure a big step. Anyhow, as soon as I was out the door, I dialed home. Mom siad that Cathy wanted to come that day and wanted to come at 1:30!! It was 12:15 when I talked to mom and it takes me half an hour to get home. Dad went to the barn ahead of me to brush up on Wikkit. When I got home I ran upstairs and changed. Then I grabbed a piece of bread and an apple. Mom said that she had talked to this lady for quite awhile and answered a lot of questions.

I got to the barn and Wikkit was in the cross-ties with a layer of hair all around him. He was also not on his best behavior for dad. Anyhow, I picked up a brush and smacked Wikkit. Wikkit stood still and I did a little more brushing while dad swept the hall. Dad said that Kathy had called mom and told her that traffic was holding her up so that she’d be late. I longed Wikkit while dad did some sweeping and tidying up of the barn. Wikkit was absolutely full of it! I put him through his gaits and tried to wear him down a bit. Well, it did help some. He was happier anyway, when I put him back in the crossties and brushed him some more.

A bit later dad went to meet the lady and her daughter while I waited. By that time, Wikkit had stood around a bit and was bored and energetic again. I took him out and longed him again. He was still looking around a whole bunch and wanting and hoping to run, but he behaved and didn’t rush (although he took bouncy steps!). I heard them drive in right when I was walking him again and hurried to put him in the cross-ties.

I was pleased to see them take the mud in stride (yep, they walked through the mud). First they looked at him for a minute in the cross-ties and then suggested that I go ahead and ride him! I tacked him up western (at their request) and brought him out. I was really nervous, because Wikkit was really energetic, he didn’t want to flex or relax, and western was supposed to be slow! I trotted some, jogged some, did some transitions and then did some cantering. He was cantering really well, although his down transitions were some sloppy. Golly, I was so nervous. Everything seemed to be happening so fast and I wasn’t ready. Wikkit hadn’t been ridden since the Tuesday before. I slugged my way through quite a bit, showed them some pivots and how he moved off my leg. Then Kathy asked me to show me how “athletic” he was and how he used his neck (or something like that) when I went faster. To show her, she suggested that I do a mock keyhole race. (run down the arena, turn around in a small space as fast as you can and run back. We complied and dad said afterwards that she about dropped her shorts! Wikkit COMPLETELY complied. He scat as fast as he could and really took off.

The very next thing that she asked to see was his slowest canter. How unfair is that! Wikkit was nowhere near the end of his energy and was really hoping that I’d do some more running. But he still had his head on his neck and listened to me as I worked him around the arena a few times at the trot. He slowed down his canter to normal ok and showed her a nice canter. It wasn’t very round and it wasn’t very relaxed, but it was comfortable, controlled, and forward.

Then it was Sarah’s turn to ride. She put on her helmet and hopped on. I shortened the stirrups and sent her off. She walked around the arena once and then picked up the trot. I didn’t really know what to do. So I told her mom that they were the first people out and should I just let her go around? Yes, she said. To make this very long story of my very stressful afternoon short, she rode Wikkit at all his gaits, did lots of lead changes and transitions, practiced pivots and learned how to use his outside rein for speed and his inside rein for softening. She already has a real nice seat and doesn’t always pop out of the saddle or lean forward.

Throughout all of this I was very pleased with the way that Sarah’s mom Kathy spoke about horses and how Sarah rode. They actually seem like normal people (unlike many horse people) and showed knowledge and sense. They were thorough in their questions and even brought a video camera (what a good idea!) so that they could review better when they got home. (Dad video-taped.) Sarah wasn’t as advanced as Wikkit can “take” (as advanced as you can get without training…) but in prime range. I had thought about what kind of rider would be best for both Wikkit and his new owner (as far as getting the most out of things) and Sarah is very much like what I was imagining.

On Wednesday afternoon they’re coming back. We’ll ride first and the vet will get there at 3:15 to do a pre-purchase exam. If that goes well, they will buy Wikkit on Wednesday and we will drive him to their home on Thursday. On either Thursday or some other day I will give Sarah another riding lesson.

all sorts of stuff is going on. decisions mostly. I had a final this morning that went well (history) and will have one tomorrow and one on wenesday too. We will see how those go! am I going to go to GFU? It’s looking pretty expensive. What are some other options? What are the things that I like to do? How can I make that into a carreer, I wonder. Why didn’t I get that art scholarship? I need to write letters to people. I need to call friends. But I haven’t. I like to take pictures. I like a lot of things. I avoid alot of things. How do you spell alot? why isn’t anybody online? Who would I want to talk to anyway? I’m going to go read my Bible. Nothing is wrong with that.

Rae