The Homestedt

My Reason:

I roll out of bed each and every day ( mind you, I am NOT a morning person) to feed 14 dogs (yes, I do collect strays) and 15 horses -

Believe me, it does get old at times – but the reason I do it, day in and day out, has a name ……………….Raison d’Etre.

A tall, lanky chestnut with enough self confidence to float the USS Enterprise and gaits to match – yep, he is my reason for getting up and believe me, if you’d ever have the chance ( and no, you will not get that chance, sorry !) to ride him, you’d understand what I am talking about.

I purchased Raison d’Etre from his breeders at Dreamtime Farm in Lexington, KY in September 2001, as a green three year old. Looking back, I really can not tell you what drew me to him, other then the fact, that I knew his dam, granddam, sire and grandsire and felt confident about his future as a show horse. 

From the start, Raison d’Etre (we call him Ralee) was a force to be reckoned with – smart, athletic and always thinking of a way to testing me, we made a point of introducing him to as many different areas of our sport as we could – from jumping, to galopping cross country, to having youngsters being ponyed off him – he knows how to do it.

The first under saddle shows were rather entertaining – between digging up his temporary stall ( ….thinking back about the chaos he created, words just fail me), having to mount him in mid rear ( oh, that was fun – NOT), behavior unbecoming a future showhorse in the various warm-up rings (my apologies to everyone who witness it or was an unintended target) but by living through it, we have formed a strong bond.

From Suitability to FEI 6 year old, from PSG to Grand Prix – Ralee just stepped up to the plate and one of a sudden we are here, at Grand Prix. I still remember picking up the canter for the first time and the fence posts looked like a picked fence, he was galopping so fast – now we get 8s and 9s for our one tempis – amazing !

Yes, he is a great reason to get up at oh-darkhundred every day – I still don’t like doing it !