Features Fox...
May 12th 1982 in Ontario Canada, a little sorrel colt was born to Gibbs Scoop Jet by New Feature. The little red horse with his dark tail and white face was very much like a little red fox....and so his name would be. Fox. Features Fox.
Fox had what no doubt was a frightening start to life. Healthy he was, but as one of sixty horses at the facility it was no surprise that his mother's colic was missed. It wasn't discovered until they found the scared little colt in his box stall with his mother's still body.
Fox had what no doubt was a frightening start to life. Healthy he was, but as one of sixty horses at the facility it was no surprise that his mother's colic was missed. It wasn't discovered until they found the scared little colt in his box stall with his mother's still body.
From there Fox grew straight and boxy like every Quarter Horse should, becoming a very good, winning halter horse. I once asked Ms. Deans if they had any photos of him as a colt, and with a heavy sigh, she shook her head no and went on to explain. Fox was a bit of a handful and after every win they would try a photo, and every time he would destroy the photographers set up. Eat the bushes, kick the props, and tear the curtains. So no, there are no photos of a young Fox. She did however advise me to never body clip him, as they did one season and he came out Pink.
As Features Fox matured, he hocks sickled and his chest narrowed....this was all okay because that contributed to his nice movement but ended his career as a halter horse. He was broke to ride and given to Vicky Deans to show Under Saddle. They excelled in Equitation, winning quite often. Fox however had developed a new special quirk. He reared every time a ribbon or an award was presented to his rider. Finally Fox would have to be sold as a safety hazard.
As Features Fox matured, he hocks sickled and his chest narrowed....this was all okay because that contributed to his nice movement but ended his career as a halter horse. He was broke to ride and given to Vicky Deans to show Under Saddle. They excelled in Equitation, winning quite often. Fox however had developed a new special quirk. He reared every time a ribbon or an award was presented to his rider. Finally Fox would have to be sold as a safety hazard.
He next ended up with a woman in Western N ew York for driving. This turned out to be just one more thing he would be excel in. Fox won the Combination Driving at Quarterama before she finally decided that he was not safe to sit behind. Apparently winning wasn’t worth his unpredictable behavior. I remember Ms. Robinson approaching my mother once at a horse show in Clarence Center, NY asking about the horse. She was shocked to see Fox showing so successfully in the Youth classes and her jaw hit the dirt when my mom went on to tell her about our recent trip to the World Show…in Western Riding no less. She couldn’t believe that he even had a lead change let alone one so well groomed that he could do Western Riding at Worlds.
Once again, unloaded as a safety hazard, Fox left his driving career to learn discipline, to learn western pleasure, and most of all to be once and for all, broke. And broken is exactly what he wou ld become. Sold to a trainer, all of Fox’s little misbehaviors were corrected…perhaps that’s an understatement. I don’t know how things are handled now, but in the eighties the iron fist handled the unruly, and nobody asked any questions. Horses with Fox’s disposition were broke a certain way; days without food or water. Riding for hours on end…riding them until they were about to drop, riding them some more and the tying them high in their stall so that when they finally did drop, they were basically hanging. Tied to trailers for days in the hot sun. Slicing the corners of their mouth with a razor blade so that they responded more easily when the bit was tugged on…that of course being covered with mascara so no one would see the wound. Big, gauged holes in their shoulders and their sides from over sized spurs. Wire nose bands…or even one better, barbed wire nose bands. And then there is my personal favorite, the baseball bat for horses that rear or for the ones that picked their heads up just a little too high. All of this literally brought Fox to his knees. He was beaten…physically, emotionally, spiritually. Broke.
From there Fox was sent to Pat Stevenson’s barn to live. I’m not sure what the reason was. If he was meant for her to show, or maybe there was no room in the barn for this horse…I just don’t know. But Pat liked him. He was a good boy for her. Under her care and still with the same trainer, Fox would win the Versatility challenge at Quarterama, twice. Yes, he was broken, but he was still winning.
From Pat’s place, I’m not sure what his trail was, but I know somehow he landed in Holland Patent, NY and met the Hoyts. His owner I believe had gotten him to show at local shows, working with Jennifer and Tom. But mostly he lived in a pasture with a small pony. That was it. All that he endured for his life to become that basic…to be nothing but a pasture pet.
To this point Fox had matured into a pretty quite, and dependable gelding. Not even a shadow of the troubled horse he once was. It’s now April 1989 and Fox is about to turn seven. But his journey is not over…some might even say, it has merely just begun.
He now arrives at Tantivy Farm in Kirkland, NY by the way of Jennifer and Tom Hoyt.
He was brought in for me…
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