Dawn's Birthday!

Happy birthday to Dawn - she's 13 today! Of all our horses, we know the birthdays of only two - Dawn and Noble, and then only because we have their registration papers. I expect my younger daughter will give her some extra carrots today. They've been out riding on the trails almost every day, and Dawn seems to be enjoying it.

Dawn is our wild child, our herd alpha since Lily went to Tennessee, and one of the most intelligent horses I've ever met. She's curious/spooky, dominant/sweet - an intriguing mix. She's also amazingly athletic, and enjoys moving and using her body. She's a worrier sometimes, and can be very marish (we've made some progress on that with the Mare Magic). She's been with us since late 2001, when she was a gangly 4 year old off the race track. She was still growing, was only about 14.3 hands, was gangly and awkward, and had to wear front bell boots 24/7 because otherwise she would step on her front feet - her butt was at least an inch taller than her withers - how she raced (she also was at a big disadvantage with a June birthday) I'll never know. She finally matured to about 15.2.

She's all bay - no white hairs anywhere - her various scars are her distinguishing marks (and she's got lots of them from various episodes of getting into trouble). She loves exploring equipment (trucks, tractors, etc.) and human tools - if you're working on something she always "helps". She has the widest ranges of vocalizations and sounds of any horse I've ever met - I did a post on it once.

Her pedigree goes back on the top line directly to Man o'War through War Relic (twice), with Nasrullah on both top and bottom and some line breeding to Native Dancer on the bottom. She even has Dark Star in there. You can see her fire and try in her pedigree.

Her build is very square and sturdy, and she has exceptionally fine feet and legs and has always been very sound. I have lots of pictures of her - here are a few fun ones. Here she is with our chiropractor:

Very alert:


From a work session I did with her last fall (see my post "The Horse Is Thinking About Leaving . . . on the sidebar for more about Dawn):

Her fiery eye:

Showing what she's capable of (!)(excuse poor picture quality):

Passing in front of Misty:


Sleepy:

A good roll:

Waking up and checking things out:

Doing the "shoulder rest" (cell phone picture):

Keeping the "bugs-up-the-nose" at bay!