Hombre- The Man!

This entry is about The Man of my life for many years- middle school, high school and junior college. This Man would be Hombre. Hombre is a chestnut colored gelding. His breeding is 1/2 Quarter horse and 1/2 Arabian. Hombre was born on my parents' ranch and he is the son of my mom's mare. Her mare is 29 years old this year! Hombre is 22 years old. My mom still has her mare Hochoy (means good luck in Chinese), but Hombre now belongs to a woman in Windsor, CA. Hombre means Man. My mom named him that. Hombre was suppose to be her other horse. Well, he ended up only being 15 hands tall, and she was hoping for more like 15.3 hands. Hombre was also a pest. I gave Hombre a couple nicknames throughout the years- Oscar the Grouch, Dennis the Menace, and a couple other names that I don't need to mention! For the first five years of Hombre's life he pestered us when he was lose all around the ranch. He always wanted to know what was going on and why we were digging long holes (ditches) in the ground, or why the other horses and the cows got feed also, instead of just him!
Eventually, by age 6, Hombre started to be a working horse. I decided that I thought I would start teaching Hombre a few things. I found out that Hombre is actually a very talented horse under saddle, but when you are standing on the ground next to him, he is a real pest!
I started to take riding lessons on Hombre, and then I started to show him. Many people were impressed with him. I had people asking me what his breeding was- I just said he is a Quarter horse/Arabian, most people thought he was a thoroughbred! He was quite a beautiful mover and most Quarter horses are not that gracious of movers.
We ended up doing really well in shows. I took Hombre to eventing shows- Dressage, Show Jumping and Cross-Country jumping at Training level. We won a couple of these events! Hombre loved to show off in the arena when he knew that he was being watched! He would always be unpredictable in the warm up- knocking down rails when jumping, kicking out or giving a little buck from time to time. But when we entered the show arena, he was serious! That is a good thing.
For Dressage, we did a couple musical freestyles, and we even presented a musical freestyle at CDS championships (California Dressage Society) and won!
It is funny how a crazy little horse like Hombre became such a great performer.
Unfortunately during college days I wasn't able to ride much. I was running track working at Costco and going to classes. There wasn't any free time for riding, just sleeping. I sold Hombre to a lovely lady in Sonoma County. I stayed in contact with her for a year or two and then lost contact. I just hope that Hombre is still enjoying the days and getting his trail rides in. I do miss him dearly, but I am glad that I got to enjoy the prime years of his life! Thank you Hombre for all the memories, and I sure you have given your new owner many memories also!