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Triggering a Goal

by Cathy Morris, Golden Slippers Haflingers, Oregon

One day, in 1955 or thereabouts, I turned on a black and white t.v. set, and my 5 year old brain was forever altered. There on the screen was the most magnificent creature I had ever seen. It started an avalanche of emotional reactions that would stay with me for the rest of my life.

His name was Trigger. The man who rode him was named Roy. Through the childhood years, on into my teens, I would have many brief
periods of hero worship. Almost all of those silly heros would dissappoint me. Only one hero never made me regret the emotional attachment: Roy. For the next 45 years, the very sight of the golden coat and white mane of a palamino would bring pleasure.Strangely enough, I was really turned off by the buckskin color. It wasn't till I was an older adult that I realized how stupidly jealous of Dale I had been as a 5 year old kid. I laughed, said thank you in my mind for the great wife & woman she was, and suddenlydiscovered that I no longer disliked buckskin....

Almost 40 years after first turning on that t.v. set, I opened a book on horse breeds. It almost fell open itself to a picture of a golden breed of horse called, Haflingers. More than just the color, however, what entranced me was the discription of the personality of the breed. They sounded just like the way Roy had described Trigger....

Years after getting into the breeding of Haflingers, I turned on the t.v. set and caught an old Roy Rogers movie. There in flaming color was Trigger (Jr. this time). I was thrilled with the build of this horse. He was so classical! Long, arched neck (not straight and dipped in front of the whithers), full, long, rounded hip; substance and depth of girth, a wide loins (no wasp waisted creature was this) He had bones in them there legs, and big feet. He wasn't terribly refined - no Arabian head on this 'ol boy. As near as I could figure it, he was the horse people ought to
striving to breed - and there he was, 40 years ago. All perfect like. I realized that every time that I had set my mind on the type of Haflinger I wanted to see, well, it had looked a whole lot like Trigger Jr....

I wish I could say that I have changed a lot if 45 years. But, apparently not. It just goes to show you how affected a kid can be by what they see and do early on in their little lives, and how that perspective can stay with them for a lifetime. So, here I am 45 years later, raising a breed of golden horse with long manes and tails. And, I might add, perfectly happy with the doing of it.

I just found out, by the way, that the tombstone on Trigger's grave says that he was out of a cold blood mare and sired by a thoroughbred stallion. In those days, draft horses were a bit different, mostly, than they are today. They were, generally, not so darn big. Trigger Jr. was sired by Trigger - and, I believe, out of a Tennesee Walker or Walker cross mare. Still working on that one.

Anyway, with the different types- light vs. draft - that we have to choose sides on in the Haflinger breed, I always tend to side with the "I want one that's inbetween both extremes." You just can't argue this point with me, unless you want to find yourself arguing with a 5 year old....

Happy Trails to You, whatever your inspiration.