Happy (Belated) Birthday!

Yesterday was Izzy's birthday. I remembered it during the day, but not until I had already ridden and was parked in front of the TV watching Netflix. I do this every year. I know May is Izzy's birthday month, but I can never remember the day. It's the 14th. He was born in 2008 which makes him twelve years old. 

Baby Izzy

I've told this story before, but what are birthdays for if not for celebrating and reminiscing? Izzy's breeder wanted a warmblood that she could bring up through the levels, much as I am doing - or trying to at any rate. Just when Izzy was getting fun, his owner got pregnant herself and opted to put him up for sale. I bought Izzy when he was just six years old.  

Izzy's dam, Banjo Rose, was a Thoroughbred mare who was Oldenburg approved. His sire, Inbegriff, also Oldenburg approved, was by the famed stallion Ideal. No matter which way you look at it, especially if you shove all the Oldenburg stuff aside, Izzy's essentially a Thoroughbred, but not one bred to race. Of Izzy's grandparents, three of them are straight up Thoroughbreds going back as far as the 1700s.

Izzy at his RPSI inspection.

What is interesting though is how far back the Anglo-Arab breeding of his grandsire goes, and there are a boatload of them. If you follow his sire line, beginning with his grandsire Ideal, it takes a bunch of generations before you get to the purebred Arabians in his pedigree. 

Interestingly though, once you get that far back on any of his ancestors, all of a sudden, you see the Arabians back in the mix everywhere, including at least two crosses to the Godolphin Arabian though the stallion Trumpator (b. 1782). Like most Thoroughbreds, Izzy also traces back to Eclipse (b.1764), whose sire line also takes you back to the Darley Arabian (b. 1700) and again to the Godolphin Arabian through his dam. Once you go back that far, there aren't records as those Arabians were desert bred. If you look up Speedy's registry, it only takes two pages before you get to the desert bred horses.

Izzy at his RPSI inspection with his breeder.

While Izzy isn't the sturdy, not-in-a-hurry Halflinger that I've been pining for, I sure do enjoy the heck out of him. It wasn't until Speedy was nearly ten that I really started to like him. It's taken Izzy until twelve, but man is he really coming along. We're now schooling the walk pirouettes, the half passes, and I am am even getting some flying changes. They're far from confirmed, but considering I worried he and I might never anywhere, I am pretty happy with what he's offering.

His breeder made sure he had lots of good experiences.

I love celebrating my horses' birthdays. I love seeing them grow and mature and change. What I don't like is that each year that passes is one less that we have in front of us. Izzy has definitely arrived at adulthood. He's no longer a green bean; he's a fully mature horse, broke to ride. With at least another decade in front of us, I am hoping we can accomplish some great things. And if not, no biggie as I sure do enjoy riding him.

Happy Birthday, my friend!