By Laura Downey, Editorial Intern
On Monday you met our Fan of the Month June and Beasley, her wonder horse. Today find out more about Beasley, and what he and June like to do for fun!
What’s Beasley’s personality like?
Beasley has the best personality. He is happy, friendly, loveable, and will do anything for attention. He is also very smart and he picks up things so quickly that I’m constantly amazed by this.
What is Beasley’s favorite treat?
Beasley loves Mrs. Pastures and Stud Muffins. I prefer brownies with walnuts.
What is your favorite part about riding?
Grooming. In fact while I was still riding, all my friends use to joke that it took me an hour and a half to get Beasley ready, 15 minutes to ride and an hour to get him “unready.” Since I was a groom so many years, I would take real pride in Beasley’s groomed appearance. There is nothing more rewarding when someone notes your horse’s appearance and just because I was hacking down the trails, didn’t mean he couldn’t look smashing!
What do you and Beasley do for fun?
Back when I adopted this horse, I was much more interested in riding and since he was just 18 months, I looked for other things to do with him while I waited for him to grow up. One thing that I found fun was teaching him tricks. He smiles, shakes hands, nods yes and no, holds things in his mouth, puts his foot up on a pedestal, etc. While he hates to be ridden ( I’m sure that has more to do with me and quite possibly the saddle fit), he LOVES to do his tricks. I have a little stick that I use for all the trick sessions and when he sees that, he practically wags his tail.
What are your goals for yourself and Beasley?
Now that I’ve turned 50, I’ve lost some interest in the actual process of riding. But one thing I really LOVE is grooming. When I was 13, I started working at farms. I worked at many different stables from boarding to show to hack to race to breeding all the way up until I was 23 or so. I worked mostly weekends, summers, after school, and during the two years between college stints. For all those years, I worked as a groom, and it seems like I’ve come full circle. Now, I love putting him on the cross ties and grooming him, cleaning his ears, taking care of his tail, his mane, mucking his stall, etc. So while I don’t ride him much anymore, we have a terrific relationship. When I go in to the pasture, he hops into a gallop to greet me which I find very heartwarming.
