Meet 20 year old Prix de Lafite, better known to those who love him as Cookie (short for Cookie Monster, in reference to his large, enthused, expressive, and ever-eager eyes).

Cookie was born on the Sandhill breeding farm back when my parents were breeding pretty heavily with their multi-champion Halter and English stallion Chateau Lafite.  We’d had a long string of nice colts born, but were really eager to finally get a filly, and then Cookie arrived, sired by Lafite and out of the old Lasma-bred mare Ritazi (a Ga’zi granddaughter).

I was out of town at the time, and my heart sunk when my dad called to tell me there was yet another colt.  But dad said, “You don’t understand.  This one is really special!”

And Dad was right!  Cookie, from day one, had an unbelievably cheerful, enthusiastic, charming attitude that has continued to set him apart from everyone else to this day. He still stands in my mind as one of the cutest foals I ever saw, and at 20, is one of the least jaded old show geldings I ever met.  Life is still a joy to him.

When Cookie turned three, I broke him to ride over my winter break from college. He made things really easy, and absolutely LOVED learning new things.  This horse made it a joy to go to the barn and never tired of doing things with people.  And when he came out under saddle as a Country English horse, he fairly cleaned house all over the Midwest, as long as we kept his enthusiasm in check (he could get a little hot out of sheer exuberance for the show ring). 

Through the years, he enjoyed a lot of success at the Class A level in English Pleasure, Country English Pleasure, Show Hack, and eventually even Hunter Pleasure and Leadline with a 6 year old girl.  Show Hack was his forte, and he posted a Regional win in that division, along with numerous Class A Championships in the Country English Open and AOTR divisions.

With time, Cookie retired from the show ring, but was eventually pushed back into service as a lesson horse when our 26 year old lesson horse died.  I had feared he would be too hot for lessons, but instead he has been very sensible about them, even with very green riders.

So all the students fall in love with Cookie these days, because he is easy to ride at home and never tires or has a crabby day.  The funny thing is, as the riders’ skills progress though, we see more and more of his old exuberance come out.  He seems to know when someone is ready for a challenge.

Some of the students eventually progress to showing him, and he is still, even at 20, not an easy horse to show.  He anticipates the gait calls and the lineup, and has been through the whole routine so many times that he’s sure he knows what he should do next, whether his rider has asked for a gait change or not.

 So although he never does anything dangerous, he is still a challenge and makes his riders RIDE every step of the way, particularly at the walk!  (Cookie prefers a slow jig to a flat footed walk.)

Nonetheless, he's a perfect lesson horse for 4 1/2 year old Trinity Cole, daughter of Jessica's brother Dan and his wife Cat Mayfair (who owns half of Johnny Dangerously--see below). 
 

So with no idea of what to expect, off we went.  We found the instructors, Mike and Connie Lohman, to be very down to earth, not at all opposed to working with an Arabian, and generally quite welcoming.

Cookie takes his first look at the cows. 
That look on his face is one of utter
amazement!

Cookie was momentarily afraid of the cows, but got over that little issue inside about 15 seconds.  From then on, he was fairly transfixed, but unsure of what to do.  He would walk into the herd and put his head down to sniff noses with the cows and let them lick his muzzle, as though to make friends, and this is not really the object of cow sorting!

However, he was his usual game, workable self and quickly went to work at this new game, doing the best he could to follow my cues to sort out specific cows and move them in specific ways.  And in between the fast and furious parts, we had NO problems with the flat walk at all because there was nothing for Cookie to anticipate—we had never played this game before, so he couldn’t have any idea what was coming next!

I have watched the cutting and working cow classes for years at the National shows, and have always been enamored of the game.  Actually DOING it turns out to be WAY more fun than watching, and the mental game of watching the cow, deciding how to react, how hard to react, and when to do it was really addictive.

Additionally, I found it gave my horse and me new REASONS for many of the basic maneuvers that we practice in good training and riding all the time—turns on the hindquarter, rollbacks, sitting deep in the saddle, etc.  So overall, it was a terrific way to try a new game for old skills, and to take a mental break from regular performance training, by getting mentally intense about a similar game with a new twist.

 I would like to thank Mike and Connie Lohman for their hospitality and for sharing their knowledge.  And I’d like to thank Cookie, an always charming, but sometimes frustrating, old-fashioned style Arabian.  He teaches many people to ride and show safely, but gives them all plenty of challenge too.  He has an older body style and isn’t quite as “fancy” as some of the horses he now competes against in regular performance classes, and he anticipates far too many things.  So mostly, he doesn’t win anymore, but he does allow people the chance to learn and to gain experience safely, and his great conformation has left him still quite sound and fit after nearly 17 years of fairly demanding use with very minimal leg care.

Next, some basic traditional groundwork bitting/side-rein techniques were introduced to participants and their horses.  By the conclusion of the groundwork, the horses were relaxed and settled in, and the participants were becoming much more comfortable with the principles.  Numerous questions were asked and the work was tailored to each individual horse’s needs.

Liz Dezmore brought her prospective Competitive Riding mount and long-time trail buddy Zelo, an Appaloosa-Friesian cross.

By afternoon of the first day, everyone was riding comfortably as a group.  Each participant was then given an opportunity for individual instruction on the issue of their choice.  At the conclusion of the individual ride, Susie demonstrated the innovative Niagara Equissage system on each participating horse, giving them a relaxing and therapeutic end to a long day.  This system is very popular in Europe and is just making its way into the United States.  Everyone could see that it made a discernable improvement in their horse’s posture and overall comfort level.

The remainder of Sunday’s time was spent with review and refinement of the work done the previous day, concluding with another individual help session for each participant.

Several different breeds attended our first clinic, and the interests of the riders ranged from competitive trail, to Regional/National level showing, to simply learning to be a better, safer, and more competent rider and handler.  Initial fears that such widely divergent skill and interest levels might not mesh well proved to be unfounded, because the underlying foundation of good horsemanship based on the innate nature and structure of the horse absolutely applies to any discipline or skill level.

Without exception, our participants gave us rave reviews on the depth and quality of instruction, the supportive social atmosphere, and the amount of individual time given to each participant.  Niagara Equissage also received excellent feedback from everyone, including those who had been skeptics at the outset.

We are very sorry to announce the loss of our champion show horse and breeding stallion, Sandhill Spinnaker, in June of 2006.

Late in life, he was gelded as he was no longer siring foals and we wished to retire him to a peaceful, natural lifestyle.  He very much enjoyed running the pastures with three other geldings and finally just being a dirty old horse.

Meet this incredibly kind, gorgeous, huge four year old Half Arabian, NSH gelding!  Late in summer 2005, Jessica's sister-in-law, Cat Mayfair, purchased half interest in him, and he joined the family co-owned by Cat & Jessica.  Poor Cat hasn't been able to spend much time with him, as her husband Dan is stationed in Okinawa, but the rest of us are keeping him busy, and much loved. 

They can't wait to get
started decorating that
float!

And just look at the results . . . .