Ben's barn manager Rhonda said she would help me find just the right horse. And I would be able to keep him at Ben's barn at no cost if I would pitch in and do a bit of barn work now and then. I was already grooming for the polo matches and exercising the horses and filling in for Rhonda on her days off. No additional work was really required. In fact, it hardly seemed like work at all and it was an offer I couldn't refuse.
And so we started horse shopping.
Rhonda and I had an agreement, the horse first had to meet with her approval and then I could consider it. Her standards were a lot more rigorous than mine. At that point in my equestrian education I would have bought on color or some other frivolous characteristic, so I deferred all of the initial queries and tough decisions to her. If she said "No good", even if I liked the horse, it was no good and crossed off our list. I wanted to be careful about this purchase. By this time realized I knew nothing about buying a horse and so we took our time. (See how smart I was getting?) She was very strict and had the power of the veto, this horse would have to be good for Rhonda to allow me to purchase it.
Then one day I found a small newspaper ad for a three year old mare and showed it to Rhonda. It sounded like a possibility so we made an appointment to see her. The horse was at a private barn in Hunterdon County. Up until that point we had seen a variety of horses. Some were too old, some were too big, some too small, some were lame and some just didn't have any spark for me at all. But this particular horse shopping day was the pivotal point in my horse life.
The owner Pete that advertised his young thoroughbred mare in the newspaper had only just begun her training. At his facility he had one stallion and a few mares. He bred a small number of horses each year to be used for pleasure, jumping or dressage. In no way did he want any of his horses going to the race track.
His mare was all bay with no markings but still an attractive animal and quite a nice mover. But when Pete revealed that she did like to buck that really turned me off. I admittedly was not a strong rider and Rhonda and I both thought we should keep looking.
But quite surreptitiously on our way out we asked did he have anything else for sale.
"No, not really, just her younger brother but I haven't done anything with him at all." Rhonda and I both looked at each other. "Well, since we are here, would it be possible to see him?"
"Sure, but you have to understand, he has done nothing. But just for the heck of it, I will show you."
That is when I saw Desi for the very first time. He was just under two years old, a bay thoroughbred with very long legs and a gangly narrow body. He looked very immature and since he was so young and barely worked he was very frisky. He had a remarkable white star on his forehead that went into a stripe down his nose and to a snip all the way at the bottom. He also had two white socks. He was quite flashy and very handsome. I liked him from the very start.
