This week, I’m pleased to hand the blog reins over to my friend and fellow rider Holly. Like many equestrians, Holly was a horse-obsessed youngster who delayed her dreams until she was an adult. She’s graciously shared the story of how her life intersected with that of a curmudgeonly ex-police horse named Roscoe. You can find Holly’s own website with links to her scholarly work (plus photos of her Irish setters!) at www.hollykruse.com.
As it turned out, the process of the therapeutic riding center becoming independent of the university at which I work and becoming its own 501(c)3 non-profit created an opportunity for me to buy Roscoe. He became the first of the former Tulsa horses to be sold into private hands.
So, now I had my own horse. Roscoe! He was mine, and I was his. He moved to my friend Richal’s place in fall of 2014, where he has his own stall, he gets turned out on grass every day, and he gets full-care board. In the winter, someone puts his blanket on and takes it off. In the summer, someone sprays him with fly spray every day… and that someone isn’t me! I can ride him whenever I want. He actually has a buddy at the barn with whom he is turned out, an adorable bay half-Hanoverian/half-Quarter-Horse named Semper Fi. They are quite fond of each other.

With Roscoe at the barn, I was able to have all of my lessons on him. He still, however, had the same problems, and I wasn’t very good at fixing them. I missed being able to ride experienced lesson horses Sundance and Heza. But slowly, Roscoe and I became a better team, and I became more confident riding him: this, despite the fact that Roscoe has bucked me off twice in the past year. These days I am able to remember what to do when Roscoe tries to scrape me off on the rail, and we can canter without Roscoe veering into the middle of the arena.
I’m not sure when I decided that I might actually want to compete in a schooling show on Roscoe. It’s a fairly recent development. I’d competed and continue to compete with my Irish setters in almost every available venue – conformation, agility, obedience, rally, hunt tests – and I wasn’t interested doing horse shows. I think the change happened this year at an early spring schooling show when I saw a Prix Caprilli test, and I learned that there is a walk-trot test. Roscoe is easily bored, and he enjoys trotting over poles and low jumps. Maybe he would like Prix Caprilli? It seemed much better than just walking and trotting in circles and across diagonals. Two other developments might have contributed to my change of heart. First, although Roscoe doesn’t like wearing a bit, I’d been persuaded to buy him a dressage bridle. I found that he would tolerate a hollow mouth, French-link bit pretty well, and I discovered a blingy browband that Roscoe just had to have. For shows, I guess.
The second development was getting the results of Roscoe’s DNA breed ancestry test, performed at the Animal Genetics Laboratory at Texas A & M University. I sent in $35 and more than the minimum 50 mane (or tail) hairs that the DNA test requires. The results showed that Roscoe was indeed not the Quarter Horse that his police paperwork had claimed that he was. No, his big head, big feet, big bone, and big ears finally all make sense, because he is in fact a Warmblood. Well, with some Mountain Pleasure Horse thrown in, which I assume accounts for his smaller stature and his flaxen mane and tail.
Now that I knew that I owned (or was owned by) a Warmblood, I had to enter a dressage show. It’s the law, right?
I’d never ridden in a horse show, and Roscoe had never been in a horse show, so I wasn’t foolish enough to ride him in his first schooling show. I made Stephanie do it. You may recall that she wrote about the experience here. They did well! After watching them, I decided that I could probably ride Roscoe in a schooling show and not totally humiliate both of us. So I entered us in a show in late May.
I spent some of the day of our first (and so far only) show walking Roscoe around the arena and around the barn, and standing near the gate, so that he’d be familiar with the surroundings and maybe not be the whinnying baby that he was at his first show. Success. He behaved quite well, including during our ride – even though as with Stephanie, he had the first jump down – and we scored a 65!

I was hooked. Someone put the idea into my head that Roscoe and I should try to qualify for the Schooling Show Championships in the fall. We already have one of the two Prix Caprilli scores that we need, and hey, we could probably qualify in Intro B too. Plus, I seem to have acquired the entire wardrobe required to show in a real dressage show. I do not know how that happened. It’s kind of a blur.
After a late June lesson focusing on jumping low jumps (and plowing into a few of them – my fault), Roscoe is a little off in his right front leg when he trots, so he is getting a break from being ridden. He is not complaining.

I of course hope that Roscoe’s hiatus from being ridden is brief, because even if we never enter another show, this summer I’ve learned that Roscoe likes trail rides. I was brave enough to trust him to behave, and he was stellar on the trail ride that we went on in June. But whatever happens, I am thrilled to have this overly intelligent, very handsome guy and his loads of personality in my life. A guy who loves face rubs and attention from his public, who is bankrupting me, and who admittedly often tries to knock me over to see if cookies fall out. Everyone needs someone like that.
Cute series. Roscoe sounds like a true character! What a nice “been there” horse for your first horse. Have fun!
Thanks! He turned out to be the perfect horse for me. And yes, he’s a character. I wouldn’t have it any other way!
Such a sweet story!
Thank you. I’m glad that you liked it!
What a sweet tale – I hope Rosoe is feeling better soon and the two of you can hit the trails again!
Roscoe is indeed feeling better. We had a lesson yesterday, and he didn’t limp at all!
Aw, I bet Roscoe is the happiest horse now – it sounds like you two are living the life and having fun together!
He’s still a curmudgeon, but deep down, yes, I think that he is pretty darn happy.
Thanks for sharing your and Roscoe’s story! I’m so happy you were able to keep him and really learn how to ride him. Sounds to me like he loves his new job!
I am definitely still learning how to ride him, but he absolutely loves his new job. Or likes it better than his previous job, at least. He doesn’t get ridden a lot, and I feed him lots of treats. What could be better? I understand though that he did enjoy being a cop, even if he once bit a disabled man in a wheelchair in the leg while on duty (according to his former human partner).
Love this series! Such a happy ending for you and Roscoe both 🙂
Indeed it is a happy ending. Thanks!
I’m sure your competitive nature showing doggies will carry over with Roscoe. I can’t wait to hear how the shows go!
And the DNA test is super interesting…
Thanks! Maybe Stephanie can report on our shows 🙂 I’m not that competitive in dog showing and mostly like performance events where we can do well and earn a title without having to “win” but just by being a good team. The DNA testing was fascinating, and I was not expecting the result. Many of us felt sure that Roscoe was part Quarter Horse, part draft horse (probably Belgian). But the warmblood result made sense. And the instructor of the first class at the therapeutic riding center for which I volunteered, the one in which I met Roscoe, had said that she thought that Roscoe seemed like a warmblood. She turned out to be right.
Prix Caprilli sounds so fun!!! Glad you and Roscoe got to enjoy some fun shows and hopefully he’s all better soon and can return to the ring!
Prix Caprilli is fun! And Roscoe’s better now, so I imagine we’ll be in the ring in the fall.