Arthur, The Beast!

Arthur is my daughter's thoroughbred that she competed with in hunter jumper for a number of years. She bought him herself for $5,000. A K-Mart special, she called him. He was cheap for a reason. He was mean and ornery and difficult to ride. But he looked beautiful under saddle and had an elegant gait.

Somewhere in his life he had not been treated well so Meredith set out to win him over. Somehow they understood each other. Soon the two of them were winning competitions against $50,000 and up horses. Her room filled up with blue, red and yellow ribbons and we got quite a collection of cups, glasses, silver bowls, blankets and other items we definitely didn't need.

But no one else -- not even her trainer -- could get on Arthur. And he maintained certain quirks. He wouldn't show after 3 p.m. He would be naughty and bite and kick other horses. If he heard a startling noise, he sometimes would bolt. All in all, however, he was a great partner for her most time.

She was jumping another horse who misjudged the fence and she jumped off, tearing her ACL. After this she decided to only ride for fun. For awhile Arthur stayed at the barn but it was just too expensive to board him. Since we had a very large lot, an acre, she decided to make a home for him in our front yard.

We already had a small barn like shed. She ordered a prefabricated barn that we put adjacent to it. We actually had a barn raising with several of our neighbors turning out to help her with the hammer and nails part. She and her cousin Lori built a fence around the new corral which constantly fell down or was nibbled at by Arthur and his new friend, Icus.

Oh, yes. Arthur had to have a friend. Horses are pack animals and need a pack. Meredith gave me a choice of a goat, a mule or a pony. I knew the goat would escape and eat my garden. A mule didn't seem to have any charm. So I opted for the pony. Meredith found an ad in the Horse Trader for two free ponies. So she and our neighbor Jennifer Battistello, who also rode with her, went to Palos Verdes and brought back the ponies. Jennifer took Star home and put him in her back yard. Soon he was getting out and running all over the neighborhood. It wasn't long until Jennifer's mom gave Star to some other friends with a barn.

Icus was an adorable pony. The only problem -- soon he started to grow and the next thing you know he was a beautiful horse. He seemed to be half Arab and half Morgan. That's how I ended up with two horses in my front yard who are the most popular people on Pt. Dume.