I thought I recognized the name Miss Zan Freckles so looked her up and found that she was an own daughter of the great Colonel Freckles, had NCHA $$ earnings and produce earnings of $50,000+ including Top 50 NRHA Sire Zan Freckles Hickory.
The listed sire was a nice son of HDI, owned by Dell Hendricks. I was impressed by this mares bloodlines and by her price.
So I called up the owner, Berry, and asked him about his filly. His sales pitch was, " You dont want her! She's ugly. But I have two other nice colts here that you'll be happy with so why dont you come on by!" I took him at his word and went on up country to check them out...
And this is what I found... Gala
He did have two very nice little colts to show me but I insisted on taking a look at his "ugly filly" dispite his protests! She didn't have a name and she wasn't pretty. She didn't like to be touched much and she wasn't broke. But boy oh boy! Could she ever move!
And so I bought her for a song and named her Gala after my favorite kind of apple (grown in the region where she was born).... and/or for the last name of the man who bred her.... and/or as a shortened version of the word Singhala.... which I thought meant "lion" in some strange language.... you take your pick!
I put Ghala in training with a man that I knew to be a very good hand at starting colts and thought I would just see how she shaped up before making any plans....
(Gala after first 30 days)And shape up she did. So much so that after three months I decided to step up to the big leagues! I sent her to train with Million Dollar Rider Dell Hendricks down in Tiaga TX *shout out to Leah Fry*
Why?
Because I was naive. Naive? "Ni- eve" Another weird word!
Yes, I was stupid! And I thought I was cool to have a horse in training with some big name trainer. Gala was put in to a "program" and did fairly well for a while but eventually bottomed out and it was determined that she wasn't going to make a Derby horse after all. "Gul-i- bull."
I never did bring Gala home as I had intended. Are you noticing a trend? So am I.
Gala was sold to a nice young lady in Illinois that planned to show locally and trail ride. I sincerely hope that she is happy, wherever she is.
I realize now that I made a very serious mistake in sending Gala to Texas. What is done is done but I hope that my horses will never have to suffer for my mistakes again. I am sure that Dell Hendricks is a perfectly nice person but I know now that the big leagues come at a price I am not willing to pay (morally not financially). I am sorry for sending Gala and wish that I had kept her with the trainer here at home... though, it must be said, that shorty after she left for TX my local Guru fell of the wagon and disappeared into the hinter lands of Alberta.... *ehem* So maybe Gala was doomed from the start.
So....That is the very brief story of Gala.
Now! I am going to tell you something you will never believe!!!
Did you know that one of the worlds richest men, a billionaire! "Bill-yon-air!" actually has the name, Anurag Dikshit.
No joke.
Above is a video of Gala before I purchased her- when she was still a little rough around the edges.
Nice little entertaining tid-bit of knowledge!
ReplyDeleteGala is pretty i think. I like her. I see why you bought her.
We all have those horses I think that we wish we could go back in time and tell ourselves - "DON'T SELL THAT ONE DUMMY!" but alas, we can't, all we can do is move on - you are of course right. And maybe learn from our mistakes.
Nice story on the mare though...
You rang?
ReplyDeleteThat would be Tioga, TX, birthplace of Gene Autry. That first photo of Gala was taken in the front pasture of the Hendricks place, because that's McQuay's right across the road! I drive by there twice a day.
Sorry it didn't work out for Gala, but yeah, when you're talking Hendricks and McQuay, you ARE in the big leagues and big business. Sometimes the road to glory in that world ain't pretty.
Hmmmm....I agree with on the trend thingy...lol!!!
ReplyDeleteShe is/was a nice little mare, and I can see why she appealed to you.
I like her!! She is really cute, and after 30 days she really looked aweseome!!
ReplyDeleteI had a blue roan, named Smokin Dry Doc. He was awesome!!!! I bought him from lady that said he bucked her off on a trail ride, so, I got him for practicaly nothing. I rode him and fixed a lot of problems. A LOT!! Six months later we were riding in a halter and lead rope bareback. I loved that horse. We also did Team Penning together. I had never put him on a cow, I just signed up and met two other folks that wanted to do it with me and went out there. It never occurred to me that my Roan wouldn't like cows, but he loved them,and did awesome!! But I sold him to a man in Wyoming as a pack horse, it was a sad day. But I needed the money to move. Sigh....I often wonder about him. I look him up on APHA's site but never find anything.
And I have been going back through all sorts of old posts!! Love your blog!!