Not-So-Speedy

Lytha, from A Horse Crazy American in Germany, recently snickered over the idea of Speedy not being a very forward thinking horse. That's how I described him in a post from a few days ago. You can see it here. Yeah, I know ... Speedy's not very speedy.

Three year old Speedy

So in case you missed it before, here's how Speedy got his name ...

When I bought Speedy, I was many years into endurance riding and had completed numerous races. My number two horse was being downgraded to a family trail horse, so I needed a new back up horse for my mare.

I was looking specifically for a gray gelding. I spotted Speedy on Endurance.net and made arrangements to see him. He checked off most of my boxes, so I bought him. He was a very green-broke three year old.

Five year old Speedy

We made arrangements to pick Speedy up the next day, so on our three-hour drive home, I tried out lots of names. His Arabian Horse Registery name is G Ima Starr FA, but I didn't want to call him Star. I looked at his parents' names and saw that his dam's name was G Im Fast, and her sire's name was Fast Ptrack. That got me thinking.

Speedy was to be my next endurance horse, but I didn't know how quick he'd be. Slow or fast, I thought it would be cute if he had a racing name. Even back then I was following NASCAR, so we tried out a few drivers' names: Dale, Jimmie, Gordon - but none of them quite worked.

Then I thought of Speed Racer. You might remember the cartoon; I loved it. There was this catchy little jingle that went something like Go, Speed Racer; Go, Speed Racer; Go, Speedy Racer ... Goooooo!

So Speed Racer started to get the nod, but then I remembered how much I liked to tell my students not to be such a Speedy Gonzales. If you're old enough, you might remember that cartoon, too. If you were a kid growing up in the 70s like me, you know all about Saturday morning cartoons.

And that was it. Speed Racer meets Speedy Gonzales. My gray pony had a name: Speedy G. As it turned out, Speedy never was very speedy. He poked along the endurance trail, but he took excellent care of both of us, never once getting us into trouble. As a dressage horse, he's not very forward thinking, but on the other hand, he's super reliable and fun to show.

Seven year old Speedy

I've already got a forward thinking horse in Izzy. I don't need two of them. I love Speedy just the way he is ... Not-so-Speedy!