(above: Sound the Bugle, circa 2003, age 31 at Woodcock Hill Riding Academy, Willington, CT. Photo by yours truly, Helen Scanlon)
As many of you know, Sound the Bugle Studio is named after a real horse of the same name. An unsuccessful racehorse who became quite successful in dressage, "Rooster" was THE sweetest horse I had ever met, and he was my best buddy for many years. When he died in 2003 at the ripe old age of 31, I was devastated. My old friend was gone.
I had cared for him and loved him for 16 years. When he was a patient and kind dressage school master, and I mucked his stall, fed him, tacked him up for lessons, wrapped his legs in polo wraps, and rubbed his big, itchy head. He loved that! Sometimes, I was summoned from my stall mucking duties to comfort him while he got shod. He would get nervous with all that clanging and banging of the metal horseshoes--and that icky smoke! Oh, poor sweet sensitive Roo! He was a groom's dream charge: always happy, always well-behaved, always a joy. He quickly became one of my favorites at the barn.
Rooster had a hold on my heart, and I continued to visit him and groom him after he retired and I was no longer employed as a groom at the riding academy. I had graduated college, got married, and I was starting a career as a counselor. But, I still visited my aging friend and gave him long grooming sessions. It was an honor. We spent many hours together just hanging out in his paddock, too. He would follow me around like a puppy.
The hollows above his eyes grew deep, and gray hairs sprouted on his muzzle. His legs grew unsteady, and he creaked as he walked, but he still had that sweet, kind disposition. He still had that "OOOH! I'm so HAPPY to SEE you!" expression on his face; ears straight up and eyes wide. I never once saw Roo lace his ears back in displeasure or impatience. Not once.
So, I always wondered where my retired racehorse friend had come from. What were his bloodlines? Did he have Man O War blood? Did he have champions in his pedigree?
Enter
Barbara Livingston, award-winning equine photographer and author of "Old Friends" and "More Old Friends." Barbara has a soft spot for the senior horse, namely the senior thoroughbred. I e-mailed her a picture of Rooster (the same one pictured above), so she could see my "Old Friend." I just mentioned I didn't know his pedigree, and always wondered what it could be.
Barbara helped me track down his pedigree!
So I did more pedigree research with the new information I had--and who is Rooster's grandsire?
Wanna know?
It's this guy pictured above: the incredible
Round Table. See the similarity? Same kind, noble face.
Round Table was 1958's Horse of the Year. Read more about him here:
http://www.spiletta.com/UTHOF/roundtable.htmlRound Table was entered in the Hall of Fame in 1972; the same year the sweet, dark bay Sound the Bugle was born.
Other names in Roo's pedigree include
Bull Lea, Bull Dog, Man O War, and the Triple Crown winner, Whirlaway.Who knew such a sweet and humble horse had such a glittering pedigree? Not a surprise to me. He was a champion to everyone who knew him.
Sound the Bugle, "Rooster," had class, grace, talent and charm. He would make his ancestors proud.
