My Tara story

OK, I know I owe everyone more stories and videos from the stallion show, and I promise they will come. I have been traveling a lot lately and I am behind on everything. But now that the stallion show is over, all the breeders are pondering over what to do for the spring. What stallions are the best for our mares, what will the market be like in 2008 and 2009, how are our pregnant mares – due this spring/summer – coming along. Dahlia is due June 1 with her 2nd foal. Pregnancy is going well. I have kept her 1st foal for a while. That filly, Tara, is now 21 months old. This is my Tara story.

When Dahlia was pregnant with her baby in 2006 I was very anxious about whether the foal would be male or female. For some reason I was 100% sure it would be a male. And I desperately wanted Dahlia to have a girl. Still, I was so sure it was going to be a boy that I had a name all picked out for him. Since Friesian names must start with a letter based on the year they are born, I had to pick a name that started with the letter T, U or V (at least I think that is what it was). I was going to name him Tsjip (“Chip”). A good ol’ Friesian name.

In the winter before the foal’s birth – right about the time of year it is now – I had a vivid dream. In my dream it was spring and a very warm and glowing day out on the farm. My dad called to me to say that Dahlia had had her baby in the field and we went out to see the foal. The baby was sleeping by Dahlia’s feet and I pointed down and said “look Dad – it is a filly!”. At that the baby stood up and began to run around in the sunshine. I looked at my father and said “I am going to name her Tara”. When I awoke from my dream I called my parents to tell them the story. We all just sort of laughed, though with some surprise that in my dream I stumbled upon a name starting with “T” – a correct name for the year. But we discounted the whole thing – everyone was sure that when the time came, Dahlia was having a boy.

On April 19 of that year my parents phoned me at 6am. “Dahlia has had the baby”, they said. “And it is a girl”. I eagerly hopped in the car and drove an hour to get to the farm. The baby walked right up to me to say hello. She was friendly, brave and so curious. Just like a big dog. “What are you going to name her?”, my parents asked. My mind raced through various Friesian names I had considered. Then I realized how silly it was to even ponder the question – I knew what her name was supposed to be. “I am going to name her Tara”.

Tara will be 2 years old this April. Soon we can start teaching her to ground drive and learn what a bit and saddle are. Next year when she is 3, her real adult training can begin. One of my more popular videos is of Tara back when she was 4 months old. I took this to show the training dad does with the foals, and how amazingly effective he is with such training. Many have already seen this, but if you want, you can view it again.

Meanwhile, I am wondering if Dahlia will have a boy or a girl this year. The name must begin with A, B or C. I have names picked out, but who knows what I may dream between now and June 1.