| Jim's Museum of Pre-Steam
Technology (My Family's Horses) |
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| I am owned by one of the nicest
horses that I've ever met. She is, of course, an Arabian. |
| I'm not prejudiced against other breeds.
I really like Appaloosas, Quarter Horses, Peruvian Pasos, Morgans,
Andalusians,
Lippizaners, and ANY draft breed. (The Gentle Giants) However, I
am drawn to Arabians because of their spirit, friendly nature and
versatility.
After all, who's winning almost all of the endurance races?
I've been around horses all my life and I've been riding since before I can remember. My family and I have had some fairly awesome horses in the past, but the one I have now compares very favorably to the ones that came before. Everyone in my immediate family rode or still rides. Mom never did think Fattan's training is done, and I agree. A horse's training is never done, but this "girl" is a pleasure to ride just the way she is... |
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Fattan
(Fattan Dantilla) is the first horse I ever trained myself from a
baby, and, if I say so myself, she ain't too shabby. She is one of the
sweetest horses I've ever met, but is very high spirited and has a mind
of her own. We've had our share of arguments and wrecks, but she has
turned
out to be an excellent ridin' horse and she is "bullet proof" on the
trail
or alongside the road with tomato trucks blowing by at 65 per and she
is
willing to go anywhere and do anything she deems to be safe. Fattan has
very good judgement about what she can do and what she can't. If she
doesn't
think she can do it safely, she won't do it. I can shoot off her, open and close a gate from the saddle, ride her through water, on any trail or in an endurance ride. There's a few things that we haven't done, such as working cows and dressage, but that's because we just haven't gotten around to it yet. She is always willing to have a beer with me. She gets her own beer, because she slobbers too much to share mine. We get along just fine |
 Fattan and Maggie inviting
their new friend Mandy out to "play". |
When we have a "Family Gathering", naturally the horses are included. They always appreciate the company and attention. |  Fattan "visiting" with my son Frank and my sister Helen |
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I go out to feed and "inspect" Fattan at least twice a day, sometimes as early as 0530 for breakfast and I can be as late as 2000 (8:00 PM) for dinner, depending on my work schedule. It's a high point in my day, and, I'm sure it is in hers. Sometimes, she will put on a show for me, just for fun. She always get some kind words and a scritch. I, in return, get an appreciative nicker and a nuzzle from her. If she thinks I'm running late, she has a lot more to say than just a nicker. Somtimes it gets pretty loud in that barn when I walk in there after working a little late... .This mare has a home with me or a trusted family member for the rest of her life... |
| While we were in California, our regular veterinarian was Dr. Kathy Jones, DVM. She is, in my opinion, one of the very best Veterinarians I have had the pleasure to know and is a delightful and talented person. Dr. Kathy has taken VERY good care of my horses and I learned a great deal from her. Her backup is the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine Large Animal Ambulatory Service. If I had an emergency situation, they would show up in 30-45 minutes. |
| In the summer of 2000, Fattan and I moved to Western Washington. As my living and work situation changed, in early 2006 it was decided that Fattan would be in a better place for her if I gave her to my niece, who lives in Salem, OR. She now lives in a large stable with about fifty other horses, is being ridden often and gets much more attention than I can provide for her at this time. I'm sure she is very happy in her new home. I have access to her any time I want and plan to ride her there every now and then. |  Things are working out VERY nicely.
|
Horses from the Past |
| Maggie (Bey's Ascent) was an all-time favorite. She
was one of those short,
stocky, can't bust 'em, TOUGH little Arabs who would have made a great
cavalry horse in another life. Maggie was a grand-daughter of
Bey-el-Bey
and great grandaughter of Bey Abi, with everything that one would
expect
from the bloodline. Disposition, conformation, willin', she's had it
all!
Maggie was twenty years old when she left us recently. If we'd
found
her earlier in her life, well, who knows? Maggie was stock
trained
and was a pure pleasure to ride, as well as a very nice "pet" as well
treated
Arabian horses tend to be. I still can't believe that I had one of
these
in my back yard. She was a VERY cool horse!
Here's a link to the Varian Arabians site so you can check out some of her relatives. NICE HORSES! |
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Brandy and Candy, two of the best
critters we ever had. They're both gone now, despite the best efforts
of
Dr. Tina and Dr. Pam and the rest of the fine folks at the UC Davis
School
of Veterinary Medicine.
Darn! . |
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Brandy was the best and fastest horse I ever rode. He was clocked with a radar gun at 37 MPH, with 210 pounds plus a 30 pound western saddle on him. (Go to the track and do the math!) When we did that, Brandy was eighteen years old. He was 3/4 Arab and 1/4 Appaloosa, which made him a real tough horse. If you wanted to go FAST, from a canter, all you had to do was lean foward and say "Hah!" and he'd drop down a few inches, "find another gear" and REALLY wind up! It was almost scary! As a bonus, Brandy had the very cool Arab "people horse" disposition. Brandy only lived to be 24. I kinda' figured I would still be riding him when he was 30, but that was not to be. He developed lymphocarcinoma, (cancer of the lymph glands) and when it was diagnosed, I had him put down. |
 Brandy and his friend Rose |
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This is my mother and Brandy right after she got him.
He was about five years old here. Mom said that Brandy was the
best horse she ever rode too. |
| My dad
and Candy. Candy (Shara Khandi) was another sweet Arab mare, who belonged to my Dad but SHE thought she belonged to my sister Judy. She could ALMOST keep up with Brandy. Once my Judy "straightened her out", she was an excellent riding horse.We all had a lot of fun with her. |
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Candy, my sister Judy
and her daughter Alana on Candy at a horse show in Lakeport, CA At age
19, Candy developed
some behavior
problems with my niece and her daughter, who were using her as a school
horse, so I took her over to my place, thinking she needed some
retraining.
A few weeks later, Candy fell down in my back yard and never got up
again.
It turned out that she had a 3/4 inch tumor on her brain stem. Very
Strange!
An old vet from UC Davis told me that he'd only seen this once before.
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Horses from Way Back in the Past |
| This
is Tawny, my mother's first horse. She came along about
1946. She was a ranch horse that my father acquired in trade for
digging a ditch for a rancher with his dragline. One day my mother was riding her down the road and a man stopped and asked her what she was doing riding that "outlaw" horse. As it turned out, the man was very familiar with the horse, knew where she came from, and informed Mom that the rancher had gotten rid of her because none of his hands could handle her. Mom allowed as how she'd had the mare for a while, hadn't had any trouble with her and didn't anticipate any. Tawny turned out to be a pretty good ridin' horse and was no trouble at all if she was treated right, which she was. |
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 My father, George Ley, on Sahiby. This picture was taken around 1947 |
Sahiby (IAHA # 1415) was
an Arabian
stallion that
belonged to a friend of the family. He was, at the time, a very well
known
sire. Sahiby sired an Arabian colt, Sudan, that my father bought. I never got to try either one of them out, as I was just a little kid when they were around. DARN! They were both chestnut in color, as I recall. |
| This is Sudan with his dam, Kushna at a little over one year old. |  |
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My father on Sudan. Sudan was also an excellent riding horse. I remember that he was very friendly, liked to be petted, and I was not supposed to go around him unattended when I was a little guy. (yeah, right!) He was, as is typical with Arabians, a nice backyard horse and quite easy to have around, especially considering that he was a stallion. Sudan was gorgeous, too. |
| My mother and Colonel Hansen Twitchell, USAF. At the time of this picture, Hansen was the commander of the base hospital at Hamilton Air Force Base, near where we lived in Novato, CA and boarded his horses, Joy and Bonnie at our place. In this picture, Mom is on Joy and Hansen is on Bonnie. Later on, Hansen, who was also a doctor, was assigned to command Tripler Army Hospital in Hawaii. Since he would be there for a few years and didn't know where he was going after that, he gave both of these horses to my mother. But, there was a bonus... |
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Here's the bonus... When Hansen left for Hawaii and gave the two mares to Mom, Bonnie was pregnant by a fine, foundation stock Quarter Horse. The result was this colt, Colonel who was born on our place near Lakeport, CA. At the time this happened, I was about five years old. What a BLAST it was having this little buddy around. Mom had made the mistake of luring him into the kitchen with apples when he was a little guy like this. He sooned learned to work the doorknob with his lips and get into the kitchen whenever he wanted to. There were a couple of problems with this. First of all, we'd go to town (we didn't have to lock the doors in those days) and return to find a colt in the kitchen. Then, after Colonel grew up, he still thought it was a good idea to come in the house. Having a full grown Quarter Horse in the kitchen can be a little bit of a hassle... With Colonel, Mom got to train her own horse from scratch. He turned out to be an excellent riding horse and almost instinctivly knew how to work cattle. Colonel was one of our favorites. |
| I started riding at a pretty early
age. This is
Cookie, the first horse that our parents got for us kids to ride.
I'm on Cookie and my sister Judy is standing in front of her. The
other boy, Buddy Rose, was one of our neighbors in Novato, CA. Cookie developed some behavior problems and we'd all more or less outgrown her, so she was sold to a friend. |
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This is Joy, a stock trained Quarter
Horse/Morgan.
This mare was a pleasure to ride and she basically taught my sisters
and I how to ride a GOOD horse. I spent many happy hours
cruising around the countryside on this old girl. She was
unforgettable. Joy is the horse that my sisters an I rode during the day and that Mom rode in a 16 couple quadrille in the evening. (Square Dancing on horses) They went all over the place with the quadrille, including the State Fair in Sacramento. |
| This is my sister Helen on Joy.
They're fixin' to go on an two
day trail ride. Note the 1937 Buick in the background. This car was built stouter than today's half ton pickup trucks and was in our family for many years. It's towing our home-built horse trailer that was around for years. |
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This is Sinbad. We're taking my
son Frank for one of
his first rides on a horse. Frank didn't mind a bit and was more
than a little upset when we took him off the horse. Sometimes you get lucky! When I first got on Sinbad, it felt like I was back on Joy. The resemblance was amazing. Sinbad was also a stock trained Quarter/Morgan cross, so that was no real surprise. He too was a BLAST to ride. The girl who owned him previously said he won her a lot of trophies barrel racing. I believe it! Like Joy, Sinbad was one of the better horses I've ridden. |
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