Don Quixote At Large

Apparently, I was not as interested in starting this blog as my initial caffeine-induce enthusiasm would have suggested. I pretty much substitute my desire to write anything here by reading other horse-y blogs. Everyone else is already saying it so well!

But today, I have an itch.

I am a frequent reader of the FHoTD blog, and my itch began with blogs like this one. Particularly, I'm talking about the brilliant owner of the Akhal-Teke who, hopes that "decades from now...[she] will be remembered as the pioneers of a whole new line of sport horses, talented, and prize winning in both the hunter and dressage arenas!" Naturally, she is referring to how crossing an Akhal-Teke:



















with a Quarter Horse:


















is going to revolutionize the modern sport horse.

What I envision from this cross is an animal with toothpick bones and Arnold Schwarzenager muscles. Yet the breeder proposes that she will be celebrated for this cross! I propose that she could have helped inspire Don Quixote.

Let's review:
1)
Don Quixote was steadfast in his delusions of grandeur.
This woman is steadfast in her hope to taste immortality by breeding the next big thing in dressage: An Akhal-Teke/AQH mix.

2)
Don Quixote rode a fugly-ass nag whom he--seriously--referred to as a Noble Steed.
This woman looks at the Holsteiner and--seriously--says, "I can breed a horse that will blow that one out of the water!"

3)
Don Quixote went galavanting about the country side with a chamber pot on his head.
This woman is galavanting about the country telling people that Akhal-Teke/QH mixes will be excellent sport horses.

4)
To return to point 1: Numerous pieces of incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, Don Quixote maintained to the very end that he was a True Knight.
So will this woman continue to breed a species of "sport horse" that the world neither wants or needs.


Reading the FHoTD blog has made me realize that there are hundreds of people just like this woman. But she takes the cake because she comes right out and says it,
"I am motivated by dreams of grandeur."
To be sure, there are far worse breeding programs to be found on FHoTD. Far, far worse. And there are Plenty of breeders out there who maintain the delusion that their Fresian/Tennessee Walker cross is going to make them a Millionaire. In many ways they, too, are Quixotic.

They simply fail to capture the spirit of Quixote so well as the woman who believes she is making a major contribution to humanity for having thought up the Akhal-Teke/QH cross.