Starman

Starman became my horse in 2002.

We were living in suburbia and I was boarding my horse at a local training facility.  My horse, Mr. Mike, was a 13 yo OTTB with issues.  When I bought Mr. Mike, I figured I had been riding all my life (although I had never owned a horse) so I could handle him.  Hahahahahahaha.   But that's another story.  I needed to sell the OTTB and get a horse that wouldn't strike at me, or try to kick me after he had dumped me...  that didn't scare the be-jeeezus out of me.  We were in the process of building our little ranch and I needed a horse that I could work with on my own, without the benefit of an on-site trainer.

I was desperate.  I was scared of my horse.

The facility where I boarded was a riding school.  Horse camps in the summer, lots of schooling horses.  The owner/trainer offered to trade me the OTTB for a schooling horse.  Starman.  Yeah, right.

Starman was cute and all but he was practically a pony with short stumpy legs.  He was fat.  He was a little kid's horse in my eyes.  I had a big 16.2h bay, drop dead gorgeous (dangerous) horse.   Starman wasn't happy as a school horse.  Starman wanted to belong to one person.  He was opinionated and he scared some of the kids.  Starman was in the stall next to Mr. Mike.  He would plead for treats with his big brown eyes so I always brought extra for him.  I think he picked me.

I was desperate.  I said I would ride him a few times and see what I thought.

When I groomed Starman, he pawed and otherwise let me know he wasn't thrilled to have yet another student messing with him.  In the arena, he was obedient but he wouldn't go faster than a slow jog.  I asked our trainer to get on and make him canter.  She rode with two dressage whips, one in each hand, and couldn't get him going either.  I felt like my legs were dangling dangerously close to the ground when I was on his back.  I felt stupid.  I was just a tad judgmental.

I was also desperate so we traded.  Starman was of uncertain age (mid teens), sorrel with paint markings and a QH build.  A few months later, in October, we finished our barn and moved Starman with Brett's horse, Flash, to our property.

Thus began my education.  Starman was a great teacher.  He required a brave leader because he wasn't particularly brave.  The first hurdle was leading him down the barn aisle to his stall.  He didn't care that the barn was designed to be open and airy, he wasn't going down that aisle.  No, siree.  I begged, I pleaded, I tried some Parelli stuff I'd read, nope.  At one point, Starman panicked, charged forward and I fell backwards over a bale of straw.  Brett was standing nearby and he didn't know much either, less than me even, but he did know that Starman had knocked me over and that it was unacceptable.  Without even thinking, he grabbed the lead rope, spoke sternly (angrily) to Starman and said "no more Mr. Nice Guy buster.  Get your butt down the aisle."  Starman walked meekly (dare I say happily?) down to his stall.  Bingo!  First lesson in leadership.  Be the leader.

Because we had no pasture, we would take our horses down the road to our neighbors place for turnout on Sundays.  They had a fenced area and liked to watch the horses play.  I learned a lot about how to lead an excited horse.  We did a few circles across the neighboring field on windy days and I learned to stay at his shoulder and, eventually, how to stay in control.

Starman didn't like trail riding.  He didn't like being ridden outside of the arena, period.  I did take him on a few trail rides, and I even rode him in the community's 4th of July parade, but mostly we stuck to the arena.  I wanted to learn this new thing I'd discovered called dressage.  Starman had always been a western pleasure kind of guy but he was willing to try.  He got fit and he cantered.  In fact, he loved to canter and it was the wonderful rocking horse kind.  He knew his leads, he was light and accurate, he was little but boy was he fun!  And, he was very happy.  His eyes shone with  joy and softness.  He was my horse and I was his person and we were in love.

I entered my first dressage show at Intro level.  My trainer called and said she had been contacted by the local newspaper and they wanted to do a small interest story on an adult experiencing their first show.  Would I be willing to have a reporter shadow me at the show?  Sure, why not.  Starman was a champ at the show (clearly, he had been there, done that with the show scene).  He was in his element.  I was running to the ladies room every five minutes to pee.  We did our test and the reporter took her pictures.  They ended up doing a full page and a half feature -- so my 15 minutes of fame were shared with Starman.

As Starman entered his 20s, he developed ringbone (arthritis in the foot) and eventually had trouble carrying me.  I wanted my daughter to learn to ride so she started taking lessons on Starman.  I was pleased that Starman loved her as much as he loved me.  He never really did like anyone else very much.  She rode him once in awhile but mostly they just hung out together.

In the meantime, I bought another horse.  Starman, being the insecure type, would freak out when we took the new horse and Flash out for trail rides or to shows.  We would come back and be told that he had screamed the entire time we were gone and had raced around in panic mode until he was lame.  Not good.  So we bought two miniature donkeys to be his companions.  It worked great.  Starman loved those little donkeys and they loved him.  They raced in circles around him and under him.  They jumped up putting their little hooves on his back.  He loved it.  If he didn't know or like you, forget about touching the donkeys.  He would herd them into a corner and stand guard.  We had to put Starman in his stall when the vet came or she couldn't vaccinate them.  He hated the vet.  He was petrified of shots.

In March of 2010 we lost Starman.  He was in his upper 20s and got a mystery swelling that spread until his whole neck was stiff.  He tested negative for infection, for botulism, for everything they could think of.  It was bizarre.  After a week at the equine hospital on IVs and a ton of tests, we brought him home.  There wasn't anything more to be done.  He was either going to make it or not.  When he could no longer lower his head (his neck was swollen large and hard), we made an appointment with the vet.

I will always carry Starman in my heart.  He was a very special horse.  He gave me everything he had: all his love, his try and his devotion.