Gayhad

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Shortly after moving to Texas, my parents bought two horses and tack in a package deal.  They decided they needed trail horses, so they could keep up with me on my little shetland pony!  Gayhad came with many pages of notes about his training in something we could not pronounce - dressage.  He was my dad's horse and he only had a 5th gear!  He was a crazy fast Arabian who was bound to be the death of my father!  Then one day, Pony Club did a curious thing - they hosted a riding lesson for parents.  One of the parents got on the slowest childproof horse - and it went running across the arena!  The instructor kept yelling for the poor frightened parent to stop squeezing their legs!  Huh - squeezing your legs makes a horse run?  Well, how else are you supposed to stay on?  That night, we pulled out Gayhad's dressage instructions and they finally meant something to us - this horse was trained!  The next day, after much pleading and negotiating with my parents, I climbed aboard the 14.2 Arabian wild horse, and wouldn't you know it, he did have a 1st gear!  As I outgrew my shetland pony, Gayhad became my new horse and I passed my D-2 and D-3 Pony Club ratings on him.  He also attended the US Pony Club National Festival at the Kentucky Horse Park and later became a much loved companion for my two event horses.  Sadly, Gayhad passed away soon after I left for college.