I know a fellow who was looking for a new horse. Not just any horse, but the perfect horse. He knew what he wanted. He had a list of criteria that the perfect horse would need to meet and he would not compromise on his list. He had owned plenty of horses in the past and there had always been something about them that just didn’t quite make them perfect. So now he figured after all the years of riding second-best horses he deserved the perfect horse.
Once he decided on his “must have” list he set upon a search to find his perfect horse. He scanned all the classified ads in the newspapers, magazines, and on internet forums. He asked every horse person he could think of if they knew any horses that fit his criteria. He called trainers, instructors, boarding facilities, and riding clubs to be on the lookout for the horse of his dreams. He accumulated a long short list of horses to inspect and test ride.
The first horse he looked at was a 15 hand gelding only 5 years old. It was black and Arab. At first sight, it looked perfect. But the owner told him it was not yet started under the saddle and the fellow was sure he wanted a horse that was instantly ready to ride.
So he kept looking.
The next horse was 15.1 hands tall. It was black with part Arabian bloodlines. It was a 4-year-old gelding that had been started 1 year earlier. It was perfect. Well, it was perfect until he noticed it had a club foot. That was enough to relegate it to the ‘less than perfect’ category.
He kept looking.
He found a beautiful black Arabian gelding that was wonderful to ride and had even won a couple of competitions despite being only 5 years old. It was as close as possible to having the perfect conformation, and it was athletic and sound. He figured he had finally found the perfect horse. But the asking price was twice what he had budgeted, so he had to reluctantly keep hunting for the perfect horse.
He travelled all over the country looking at dozens and dozens of horses. There were a lot of ‘almost’ perfect horses that he was tempted to buy, but he was determined to stick with his plan of no compromise no matter how long it took.
Finally, after nearly 2 years of searching, he found the perfect horse. It was magnificent. He stood 15.1 hands tall, black with Arabian breeding. It had been with one of the best trainers in the country and the price was fair and reasonable because the owner needed to make a quick sale. A veterinary inspection revealed its soundness. He was strong and moved like a ballet dancer. This was indeed the perfect horse.
He bought it, took it home, and gave it the name, Nero.
Nero did indeed prove to be the perfect horse. He was everything the man had been searching for to fulfill his dream. All the man’s horsey friends admired Nero and told him he was the perfect horse and worth the long search.
It took Nero a few weeks to settle in, but things were going well. Then the man noticed that Nero had started to develop little tricks to avoid being caught. Over several months Nero became more difficult to catch in anything larger than a small yard. The man decided to move Nero permanently to a smaller pen that made him easier to catch. But the price was that Nero became cranky and frustrated when the man entered the pen.
Then one day, about 8 months after he had bought the horse, Nero charged at the man and chased him over the fence. The man believed he had made a mistake buying Nero and had been fooled by the seller because Nero had proved not to be the perfect horse he had been dreaming of his whole life.
What the man had failed to understand is that while he was searching for the perfect horse for 2 years, Nero had also been on his own search. He had been searching for the perfect human.
Me and the perfect horse (Percheron gelding called China) from 1985