Summer in Dublin is a black Thoroughbred gelding, foaled in March 2008, whose pedigree includes Secretariat and Northern Dancer. In spite of his noble ancestry, "Dublin" proved to be an unsuccessful and unhappy race horse. He finished at the back of the pack in his 3 starts and, about the time he turned 4, was turned over to Thoroughbred rescue organization Neigh Savers, based in Walnut Creek, CA, and eventually was fostered here in Sonoma County under the care of my friend and Neigh Savers board member, Jessica. As a young, good-looking and mostly unraced horse, he was in demand for adoption, but he had ongoing lameness issues and could certainly have some attitude issues, so the organization was reluctant to adopt him out to someone who wanted to put him directly into service.
I love Thoroughbreds, having ridden several in my riding lesson days, but had never owned one and hadn't really considered getting one. But my Quarter Horse gelding, Cowboy, was getting older and developing some arthritis problems, and I started to think that my plan to continue riding him until well into his twenties might not pan out. At which point Jessica said "You need to come see Dublin!" I checked him out online (internet horse dating) and fell head over heels for his stunning pictures. All the dreams I used to have about owning a big, gorgeous, hunter-jumper type came flooding back. And although I didn't exactly leap into it, eventually Dublin came to live at my house as a foster, at the advice of my veterinarian, who didn't really think he was great match for me but recognized the signs of a smitten horsewoman.
I'm involved in the Parelli Natural Horsemanship program and started using the methods on Dublin. He's a much different type of horse than Cowboy and there were certainly challenges, some of which left bite marks on me. But after letting him go barefoot and growing his feet out, his lameness disappeared. His attitude improved, and after a few months I adopted him officially. And so starts this story.
Here's a "before and after" pic of Dublin, taken by photographer Marcie Lewis. Marcie took his NeighSavers pics when they first got him, and came here in May 2013 to take the follow-up pictures.
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