Paradigm Farms Horse Retirement: Meet Cisco

Cisco is a Holsteiner gelding who was born in 1999 and has generations of outstanding jumpers in his pedigree. He was sired by Candido, and thus part of the famed C line of Holsteiners reknown for their impeccable jumping technique.

Cisco and his mom

Cisco learned how to be affectionate with his mom

Not a lot is known about Cisco’s younger years. What is known is that someone spotted his incredible jumping technique and knew he would make an outstanding show hunter. He competed in the high performance hunter divisions and also in the 3’6” junior hunters. Cisco was based with hunter riders in both Maryland and Chicago, before making his way to a sales barn in Atlanta.

Cisco and Trigger

Timbit and Cisco

Cisco showing off his explosive hind end while jumping a little ditch in his pasture

Cisco was brought to a horse show in Franklin, Tennessee by the sales barn, and it was at this show that he met his future mom. His future mom had been riding and showing for a few years, and she was looking for a horse to help her move up to the 3’6” junior hunter division. Her trainers suggested that she try Cisco at the horse show. His mom had been looking for a horse for awhile, but she hadn’t yet found one that seemed like a great match for her. She rode Cisco once in the schooling ring at the horse show and knew he was the horse for her. His mom appreciated that Cisco, who was 12 at the time, was old enough to have some good experience in the 3’6” hunters that would allow him to be a good teacher for her, and he was also a little bit on the smaller side and was physically a very good fit for her.

Cisco and Thomas

Cisco and Levendi

Levendi, Cisco and Trigger

Cisco came to his future name with the barn name of Rascal, but they decided they liked his registered name Cisco better, and started calling him Cisco all the time. His mom soon learned why he’d had the nickname of Rascal. Cisco liked doing his best impersonation of a grumpy guy who tried to convince you that he didn’t want to be friends, or even be particularly friendly. His new mom along with her barn family decided to show him that life could be fun. When Cisco first came to his mom he had apparently been leading the life of a show horse in the extreme, and he had no idea how to put his head down and eat grass. His mom said her trainer stood with Cisco outside and would pick handfuls of grass and feed them to him until Cisco learned how to put his head down and graze.

At the same time that Cisco was learning how to graze, his mom was determined to become friends with Cisco. At horse shows she would sit with him in his stall and pretend she didn’t notice the massive attitude he was displaying. As time went on Cisco went from barely tolerating his mom in his stall and sometimes trying to bite her, to enjoying her presence and sometimes offering nose bumps and little kisses.

Cisco and his mom also began to forge a partnership under saddle. His mom was moving up to the 3’6” hunters and Cisco taught her how to confidently ride to the bigger jumps while at the same time keeping the whole picture soft and pretty. His mom said to this day Cisco is the most athletic horse she’s ever ridden. When he jumped he jumped hard off the ground with his front end, then followed that up with an explosive hind end over the jump. His mom said that Cisco jumped every jump in impressive style, and that he also never spooked at a jump. If a jump was in front of him you could count on Cisco to jump it boldly and in great style. His mom also said he had a very balanced and athletic canter, so all the time when she was riding him she could always feel all of the power underneath her.

Cisco was always all business at horse shows, he was calm and competitive and there to win. He also had high expectations of his mom as well. She said that Cisco being both powerful and sassy made her learn to be a stronger, more decisive rider. In their early days together Cisco didn’t tolerate mistakes well. However his mom said that as their relationship out of the saddle began to improve, Cisco became more forgiving of her riding mistakes. When they were at home Cisco and his mom enjoyed trail rides and quiet hacks around the farm. His mom said that Cisco was always quiet and complacent at home, but when he got to a horse show he turned things up a notch and went from complacent to being very focused and all business.

Cisco and his mom enjoyed a few years of riding and successful showing, but unfortunately a series of soft tissue injuries led to his retirement. We didn’t have an opening for Cisco right away, but he was able to spend several months with a friend of mine at her private barn while waiting for an opening at our farm. Cisco temporarily reverted to being Rascal again while at my friend’s farm. He apparently had a plan for world domination and expected to control every move that any horse on the farm made. It took time and patience for Cisco to learn how to be around other horses, but he eventually realized that complete domination was not a requirement for a happy life, and settled into retirement.

When Cisco made the move to our farm he met his match on his first day with us when we put him in a paddock with Timbit. Cisco could do nothing to intimidate Timbit since he has his own plans for world domination, so he quickly settled into life on our farm. There was no question that Cisco needed to become one of the Big Boys since he has such a high opinion of himself and loves to play, so Cisco became the newest addition to the Big Boys.

Cisco and Timbit; you can fast forward to the one minute mark to see Timbit's version of "anything you can do I can do better."

Once again Cisco revisited his plans for total domination when he met the Big Boys. Levendi, the leader of the big boys and the most dominant horse I’ve ever seen, quickly set things straight with Cisco. The Big Boys had an order, that order started and ended with Levendi, and Cisco could decide he was ok with it. Cisco quickly decided that he was ok with that, and has happily spent his days playing and grazing with the Big Boys for the last three years. The horse that didn’t know how to graze at one point in his life happily spends his days as a grazing machine. When he isn’t eating Cisco loves to run and play, and he does both of these things with the same amount of passion and athleticism as he put into every jump.

Cisco still has a bit of Rascal lurking in him. He enjoys being an instigator and troublemaker, and he likes reminding us that he’s still in charge. I had to body clip Cisco during the body clipping marathon last week. I gave him a thorough bath and put him in the sun to dry. Two hours later he was dirtier than he was before I bathed him, so I curried and brushed and curried and brushed to try to get him to a point where my clippers wouldn’t be clogged with dirt. In Cisco style he made sure he had the last laugh.

Cisco and Thomas