Cerulean Moon
From AlexBrownRacing
A wonderful dark bay gelding lucky enough to go from one good racing home straight to a new career.
Pedigree
After a 6-month lease, I purchased Moonie from his trainer in May 2008. He is a 2002 gelding by Malibu Moon, thus related to AP Indy, Seattle Slew, Secretariat, Mr Prospector, and Native Dancer on his sire's side. Through his dam, his bloodlines include Hoist the Flag, the ubiquitous Northern Dancer, and a host of other famous thoroughbreds. After an OK racing career (he apparently earned in the high 5-digits) and a good bit of down time, Moonie is now learning his new job and making great progress. He's a beautiful horse and a lovely mover! I just love him and will add pictures as soon as possible.
For me, horse ownership was a lifelong dream, put off by work, family, etc. It's a familiar tale. Past experience (with polo horses) taught me that my favorite animals were "lazy" thoroughbreds. (Still, I'm tall, and without this site to keep my politics focused since May 06, I may have been tempted by the Warmblood Invasion!) Temperament is key: a horse like Moonie, with a kind, gentle nature--though with his TB moments, to keep things interesting!--is a perfect fit for someone in my situation. Add a fancy way of going, and it's all good!
080803 Update: Moonie is really building some muscle -- looking good and going great. In fact in our last lesson I asked my trainer if he wasn't getting behind the bit, and she laughed out loud: what I was feeling were those very moments of self-carriage that we are looking for! I will put up pix when I find some that meet my critical eye.
We will have our first dressage clinic in a couple of weeks, then we shall see what's next!
081021 Update: I just sent in an entry form for our first competition, a combined test at a local farm. We will tackle the dreaded Intro A dressage test and attempt a course of 18 inch "fences." At this point he won't consistently go straight down the center line (at least not for me!) and he doesn't regard 18 inches as a height that needs to be jumped, rather than just stepped over, so this should be an interesting schooling experience. From his life at the track, nothing fazes him when it comes to new things, at least not in our past year together. He looks, then moves along. Hopefully this attitude will continue when we go to a new farm!
And did I mention that this is a Halloween Costume dress compeition as well? Last night I was hard at work stitching sky blue trim and moon shapes onto a black saddle pad...
