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| Name: |
Romeo
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Age: |
Deceased, Thirteen years old
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| Gender: |
Male
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Kind: |
Quarter Horse
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| Home: |
California, USA
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Romeo
is no longer with us and passed over the Rainbow Bridge a little over a
year ago. Out of the many horses that I have had over the years he was
absolutely my favorite (hence my email address romeyrider). Shhh... you
can't tell that to the other horses! I had to put him down at the young age
of thirteen because he was in a lot of pain due to fact he had something called
Pedial Ostitis in his coffin bones (those are the bones that are inside the
horse's hooves). It just wasn't fair to let this normally active horse to sit
around and be in pain 24 hours a day.
I was fifteen years old and looking for my second horse because I had to retire my
first horse named Flame. Flame went to an Arabian retirement home... he was
an Arabian horse that was 25 years old and it was time for him to relax for
the rest of his days. I went to go look at a horse I saw an ad for in the
paper with my dad one day. Well I ended up liking Romeo better but he wasn't
for sale, but the woman saw how much I loved him and said she would sell him
to us (for a lot more than the other horse though). Anyway she said she could
deliver him to my neighbor's house (that's where I had kept Flame) in a week.
That was the longest week ever. When the day came that Romeo finally did
arrive the whole family was there to greet him.
Romeo's color is called Sorrel and he stood fifteen hands tall. He had a balloon
shaped white marking on his face and three socks. It was a big difference
from going to a skinny Arabian to a thick Quarter Horse. His registered name
was Smashed Romeo because his sire's name was Smashed Casanova and his dam's
name was Added Sugar. If you know anything about naming horse you would know
that they like to take part of each parents name and stick them together.
Romeo had a personality like no other. He only wanted to do things his way...
he wasn't mean about it but if he didn't want to do it he would refuse to
move and not even a bribe could get him going. Romeo was also supper sweet.
He would nicker as soon as he heard the upper gate click open because he knew
it was me. My friends and I would spend hours brushing him and braiding his
mane and tail to make him look ready for a show. Then we would have a mock
show with my neighbor's horse and the dogs, too. Romeo always was a crowd
favorite and was always in the blues.
He also had a very mischievous side. One day when I was down in my barn (I
had since moved Romeo from my neighbor's yard to my own yard and got another
horse named Dusty) and I threw my jacket over the rail of the fence because I
was getting hot while mucking. Romeo walked over to my jacket and started
chewing on it. I went over to him to try to take it away and then he lifted
it high in the air and started shaking it. Then he trotted to the other side
of the paddock to the spot where he would pee and stuck my jacket right in
the ground and started rubbing it in the pee spot. He knew exactly what he
was doing and I couldn't do anything but to laugh. He stopped rubbing it in
the pee and brought it back over to me. I could have washed it and it would
have been fine but he broke the zipper. Naughty horse! But he would do silly
little things like that all the time.
Romeo would also get mad at me if I left for a vacation or even one night. I
would get back home and he would turn his butt towards me and put his head
low in the corner... not even treats would get him to come over and say hi to
me. So I would have to walk over to him and stick the carrots right under his
nose... no good, still mad. Then I would have to start scratching his butt
and all over his body telling him how sorry I was that I left. Usually after
about ten minutes of apologizing he would take the carrots from me and then we
would be on good terms again. I suppose I would baby him just a little.
Before I bought Romeo he was a professional barrel racer at the young age of
three (having this rigorous riding done to him at such a young age is what
caused the problem with his hooves in the first place... though it took about
nine years for it to catch up with him). He was fast and would win any race that
my friends and I would do. Romeo was also always in the lead when we would
turn out all the horses together to let them run. He was the dominant horse
and would tell all the other horses what they could and couldn't do. It was
so much fun to watch him interact with the other horses.
I knew nothing about Barrel Racing but all I would have to do is set up the
right pattern and hold on and Romeo would do all the work. He loved barrels
but I didn't do that a lot with him I mostly rode the trails and streets with
him. Romeo loved little kids so much that if he saw them coming from a block
away he would pick up speed to catch up with them. He just loved it when
they'd pet and scratched him. So I would let him stop and get attention for a
little while and then I would have to move on... and he would walk slowly
away and keep turning his head back to look at the kids. It was so cute.
I could just go on and on about Romeo and am actually am writing a biography
about him that I have been working on for about five years now. You just never
know. maybe someday you will see it for sale in stores! Romeo was a
fantastically terribly naughty but kind horse that I will never forget! I
can't forget him anyway because I keep his ashes in my bedroom!
View more images of Romeo!
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Talk about Romeo in Pet Talk!
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