Re: Good Endurance Lines

[Ruth Abair <rabair@dproti.dcrt.dla.mil>]

Dear Heidi,

Classy - my sweet, "little" gelding - and I,  are just "wanna-be"
endurance participants for now. Hopefully, we/Classy and I, will get our
first LD ride under our belts this month. But I couldn't pass up the
opportunity of sharing my experience and opinion on "papers and
lineage."  Doesn't matter what the pedigree says. Numerous factors -
which would require quite a dissertation from me - come into play.
Bottom line is, you can't ride the papers.

All my life, my activities centered around the Quarter/Thoroughbred
horse. I knew/know very little about Arabians. But I knew what qualities
to look for - in any horse - and decided upon what I thought would be a
good "starter" for me in this sport. Classy's papers meant nothing to me
at the time of purchase. As it turns out - from what I know now - he has
"quite" a pedigree. I believe he qualifies as CMK, Crabbet - you name it
- lineage. He is double Fadjur bred. He is out of Dawn's Early Light by
First Class with second generation *Bask and Khema on the top side and
Fadjur and Jdar Yankee Dawn on the bottom side.

 I hope you see my point here. He/we may never make "top ten" in
anything - that remains to be seen - but I knew Classy had the
"basics",  including the desire to please. With time, we will build a
good foundation, one of trust and understanding. Along the way,
experience will be obtained resulting in the ultimate goal(s), endurance
riding and having fun. What I didn't anticipate was the "closeness" we
have. I think he adopted me. I acquired him at the age of 13. But I
think just the reverse happened. He acquired me at  the age of 45!

My 2 cents worth,

Ruth Abair and Classy in NE Texas