United States Eventing Association

The temperature never rose above freezing. New-fallen snow lay bright and soft on the ground, with few tracks ahead of us. Sprigs of yellowed Gramma grass, gray-green stalks of Spanish Bayonet, and Pinon trees provided faint color in an otherwise white landscape.

After three days of snowfall Kachina walked eagerly away from the barn. Her tack was an odd mixture of dressage saddle, splint boots, and the new hackamore with rope reins. I was oddly dressed as well, in jeans, Dubarry boots, parka and velvet hunt cap – the hunt cap being the only helmet big enough to fit over my fleece headband.

A trot in Lew Thompson’s sandy arroyo was a nice beginning. Kachina was responsive to leg yields as we dodged low-hanging branches, managing to catch just one lapful of snow. We went up the hill behind the Hondo fire station and came back down to the Seton Village road. Four belligerent dogs lunging at a fence did not disturb our equanimity, nor did a backhoe digging up a frozen waterline.

We picked up a canter in a wide section of the next arroyo. As we entered a bend, I asked Kachina for a flying change, using a little touch of the whip behind my new outside leg. The change was so smooth that I had to look down to confirm that we were on the new lead. Three more changes, all obedient and easy. We cantered until the arroyo brought us back to the road. We paused for a horse cookie. Next we trotted a section of trail I call the Roller Coaster, and finished the ride with a quiet walk home.

Kachina is the $600 Thoroughbred I bought for no good reason. She was a small, almost-two-year-old with a nice walk. I was told she was going to be sent to the racetrack. She is now 8, and 15.2 hands on a good day; she threatens to bite while being girthed or blanketed; she cribs for fun. She was born with no soft palate, her nose almost always wet with slimy stuff. When she eats a carrot her nose runs orange. She can jump the moon but is not sure she really wants to do so. We have been to one dressage schooling show and two event derbies, and that was enough for her.

Sometimes I get discouraged training Kachina and think I should buy a more suitable horse. A tractable gelding has high appeal. I study the classified ads in various horse publications, troll the online offerings, talk to my trainer about prospects she has seen. I’ve even gone to a Sport Horse auction and came perilously close to purchasing a well-bred young prospect. I chickened out before the fall of the gavel.

One time during a dressage clinic with Sally O’Connor, when Kachina was being really difficult, I wondered aloud if I should find a new horse. Sally responded that she always had to “make” her own horses. I wasn’t sure whether her remark was a criticism, a challenge or an expression of sympathy but I decided to continue on. Besides, selling Kachina wasn’t much of an option. Who would have her? Would she be safe with a new owner?

I have limited space for horses. Two feels like the perfect number. I have the horses at home, which in Santa Fe means no pasture, and I do all the feeding, clean-up and riding. In addition to Kachina, I have Tolstoy, my former Advanced event horse who is 22 and King of the Castle.

The other day I rode Kachina over to a friend’s indoor arena. I was ahead of time for my lesson so I dismounted and let Kachina walk around loose in the arena. She had to figure out that the new fire-breathing heater at one end was not a monster. After she had a good look at it, I encouraged her to move around the whole arena. Since we had never done anything like this before, Kachina thought that I meant her to circle me. She went in both directions, walk-trot-canter with nice transitions, just under voice command.

The next time I was in the indoor, I tried free-lunging Kachina again. She responded in the same way, maintaining a perfect circle around me at one end of the arena just as though she were on a lunge line. The normally spooky door didn’t bother her, and while she noticed Lauren walking by outside, she stayed focused.

It is possible that Kachina has taught me more than any other horse I have owned. If it matters to me to compete again, I might have to find a new horse. For now, I am trying to learn what Kachina likes to do best, to understand her issues, and be a better trainer. I have a lyric that runs through my head – love the one you’re with – and that’s Kachina.