JP> Shammie - that "BAby" felt my feelings that way.
 JP>     So, I thought to myself, I'd better NOT think of 
 JP> "Baby" and "rather ride her" instead of X if I'm going 
 JP> to ride X -- guess what ...... when I changed MY 
 JP> attitude things started really going well for me and X.
     When my first horse died, my folks took me to go see an old cowboy/horse 
trader to look for another.  Bob had known Comanche, and had often commented 
on how fortunate I was to have a horse that was truly very intelligent, 
versatile, yet put up with me about 98% of the time.  When Comanche died, he 
knew I needed to have another horse (and you know what I mean by NEEDED) but 
he was adamant about one thing - if he sold me one, I would have to be able 
to understand that the new horse (a 1/2 Arab named Lieutenant) was NOT 
Comanche.  I was so upset over the loss of my first and best love that I am 
afraid that I expected too much from Lieutenant, aka Looey.  Looey was a 
fabulous horse, but he was no Comanche.  Comanche and I had a - well, a 
CONNECTION - I would practically just THINK of what I wanted to do and he 
would do it.  He was unbeatable at trail - real trail and trail classes - and 
I still have trophies and belt buckles from gymkhanas.  AND he pulled a cart 
AND jumped.  And was as bombproof as they come.  Looey wasn't any of those 
things, and sometimes it made me a little angry.  Keep in mind that although 
I have always LOVED horses, I knew very litle, really, about being a good 
rider until almost 20 years after I sold Looey to go to college.  It took my 
mother pointing it out to me that although Looey and Comanche were two very 
different horses, Looey was doing his best and deserved to be LOVED and cared 
for like Comanche.  When I finally realized that ALL horses weren't like 
Comanche, Looey and I started to gel, as a team, and in the short year I had 
him before going off to college, Looey learned and matured and it became very 
difficult to part with him.  I had a waiting list of people who wanted to buy 
him, though!
                                                           
 JP>     Now, don't get me wrong -- I still miss "Baby" 
 JP> terribly. But, I think I've been able to put it in 
 JP> prospective (make sense??)
     It sure does.  More often than I want to admit (Comanche died in 1971), 
I find myself thinking about how much Dub's ears look like Comanche's little 
fox ears.  Or how riding Casey bareback feels so much (body size and shape, 
Comanche was a POA) like riding Comanche used to feel. Or how I wish that 
Comanche had had Spot's color (he was just snowflake patterned) and flash to 
go with his wonderful attitude.
     I hope I never forget him.  Dean just walked in and asked, "Are you 
crying, dear?"  Yes, I am.  I DO know how you feel about Baby.  We are so 
fortunate to have had these great horses in our lives, even for a short time. 
 I owned Comanche 3 years before he impacted and died.  It was the only time 
in my life that I ever saw my father cry.
--- Maximus/2 3.00
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