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

Cisco and Thomas

Cisco (far right) and friends enjoying a relaxing graze

We hope you have enjoyed meeting Cisco!

Meet Blu

Blu is an Oldenburg gelding who was bred and born in Germany in 1993. Blu’s sire is the Oldenburg stallion Insider was was by the foundation stallion Inschallah. Inschalla was an Anglo Arab, and Blu’s mom thinks his little ears and regal neck came from him.

Blu and his mom

Blu was imported to the United States as a young dressage horse when he was five years old. He was purchased by a gentleman who showed him extensively on the Florida circuit. He was then purchased and dearly loved by the person who eventually sold him to his mom.

Blu

Blu and his mom sharing a quiet moment

Blu’s mom had a lifelong dream to ride horses. She fulfilled her lifelong wish of being Annie Oakley and National Velvet when she began taking riding lessons after her twin daughters were born. Blu’s mom started off riding in the hunter/jumper world, but a fall while jumping resulted in a fractured arm. She quickly  realized that caring for twin toddlers with a broken arm was not something she cared to repeat and she decided she needed to learn to ride better and to have more control of the horse. This led her to taking a few dressage lessons, and she was immediately enthralled by, and dedicated to, the sport of dressage.

Blu, "the Professor," teaching his mom

 Blu’s mom had been riding for over 30 years when Blu entered her life.  At the time she owned a 9 year old Trakehner who had a lot of promise as a dressage horse, but suffered some serious career limiting tendon injuries. Her dreams of competing with him were thwarted. After a lot of deliberation she made the decision to look for a second horse. This was not an easy decision to make as her horse time was limited and she survived on a relatively small horse budget.

Blu and Digby

Blu and Sebastian

Blu

As fate would have it, she stumbled upon Blu the very evening she made her decision to look for a second horse. She went to the Dreamhorse website, and Blu popped up immediately in the search. By chance she found his ad on the first day it was posted. He was for sale in Florida, and his mom was in Massachusetts, so she had to make plans to get there to see him. There was also another person already booked to see him, so she had to wait anxiously to make her plans. Thankfully, the other person decided she was not a match with Blu, and his future mom went to Florida to meet him. She said the deal was done as soon as she laid eyes on him, and ten years ago she and Blu became a permanent team.

Blu and Sam 

Nemo, B-Rad and Blu

Blu’s mom nicknamed him “The Professor” because, from their first ride together, he taught her so much.  Prior to owning Blu her horses had always been very green or lacked the ability to progress beyond second level. Now she found herself riding an Intermediare I schoolmaster who wanted to teach her how to ride correctly.

Blu

Blu and Sebastian

Blu

Blu’s mom said he was very kind when she rode him. If she asked him for something the right way he would do exactly as she asked. If she flubbed her aides he did nothing and would just keep trucking around at whatever pace she had set. She said he was not a complete saint and he could really get on the muscle at times, but she learned over time that she could trust that he wasn’t going to do anything to hurt or scare her. Blu taught her how to really be present for every moment and every stride when she was riding, and in return he taught her how to ride canter pirouettes, tempi changes and passage.

Blu and B-Rad

Blu and Johnny

Blu and B-Rad

Blu was also a gift that his mom shared with others. She let other people at her barn ride Blu so they could have the opportunity to feel what it was like to ride a highly trained horse.  She also let her trainer show Blu so she could earn her scores for her silver medal.

Blu and B-Rad grooming

Taco, B-Rad and Blu

Blu and Johnny being silly

Blu’s mom enjoyed riding, training, hacking and showing with Blu. After a few years he started to become stressed out by trailer rides. He would get off the trailer lethargic, and he would hardly eat hay in his stall or graze on their handwalks. But the moment he got home from a show his spark and his appetite would return. After this happened at two shows in a row, his mom made the decision to retire Blu from showing. His mom felt that he had taught her and others so much and had always been so generous it was unfair to force him to continue doing something he no longer enjoyed.  She continued to ride and learn from The Professor, but she no longer asked him to go to shows.

Blu and Digby playing

Blu and B-Rad

Blu, Murphy and Happy

When I asked Blu’s mom if she had a particular memory that stood out to her with Blu, she said she was riding him at home one day and decided to really go for it in an extended canter. She half-halted him into the corner, and then let him go for it into his big extended canter. She said she could feel Blu’s sheer delight when she really let him go, and that to her it felt like flying.  

Blu and Taco

Blu and Digby grooming

Taco and Blu

 Blu was diagnosed with kissing spine about a year after she purchased him. With the help and coordination of her vet and farrier she was able to keep Blu comfortable and happy in his work for several years. Eventually Blu started to show his mom that he was no longer comfortable in his work, and she knew it was time for the next chapter in his life, retirement.  Fortunately for us Blu’s mom was friends with one of our clients, and we were given the privilege of hosting Blu in his retirement.  Blu made the trip from Massachusetts to Tennessee to join us at Paradigm Farms.

Blu and B-Rad

Blu and B-Rad grooming

Blu and Lighty

Blu was a little uncertain about things when he first arrived. He was very polite and very easy to handle, and he was immediately drawn to all of the green grass awaiting him when he went out in a paddock. When we put him in a temporary paddock in his future pasture he was slow at first to interact with the other horses over the fence. However, he found his confidence over a couple of days, and once that happened he quickly began to integrate himself into both his family group and the retired life. After years of solo turnout Blu embraced every opportunity to graze, run, play and interact with the other horses. He found a BFF in B-Rad, and they are frequent companions.  Blu has spent the last four years with us enjoying every minute of the retired life that he worked hard to earn.

Blu and friends on the run

Blu and friends enjoying another perfect day in retirement

Blu and B-Rad

We hope you have enjoyed meeting Blu!