In 1993, I rode Rose over to my grandparents house to visit, and my 81 yr old grandmother decided that she wanted to get on! She went into the house and came out in a pair of black velvet stirrup pants (my grandmother NEVER wears pants!) and had the camera in her hand. She handed the camera to my grandfather and asked him to take a picture of her. Grandpa looked at me sternly and said "Do NOT let go of that horse!" So I dutifully held on to Rose, who seemed to KNOW that she had a very special person aboard, and behaved like the angel she is. Grandma was an avid horsewoman when she was younger, and to this day, she still talks about being able to get on a horse at 81 years old without help. ;-)
The next photo is Rose competing in her first Open Hunter Jumper show at the T. Ed Garrison Arena in Clemson SC in 1994. She showed in 6 classes, each having 5-15 entries, and came home with 5 ribbons, places 2-5th! In later shows, Rose took numerous 1st place ribbons & trophies over jumps up to 3'6" without any trouble with the height at all. I regularly schooled her on a cross-coutry course consisting of jumps ranging in height from 2'6" all the way up to 4'6" (I was too chicken to jump anything higher). Rose always felt like she had her own wings when jumping!
In 1994, when I had to leave SC to go to AZ, Rose went to live with the breeders that owned her dam in WY, John and Jo Ann Milne. They have become like my second parents, and Rose has become everyones' favorite ranch horse because of her surefooted athletic abilities and her no-spook, no-trouble, willing attitude. The Milne's are gracious enough to let me borrow Rose back to breed. She produced a moderate Sabino colt by HAAP Snickers in 2003 (Spencer), and had an INCREDIBLE sabino colt, Windsong Firefrost by HAAP Ibn Farrago in 2004. Rose was left open in 2004, but then bred to Ravenwood Knightt in 2005 for a beautiful bay SE filly in 2006. This is Rose's last foal as she tragicly coliced and died when this filly was 2 months old.
Rafaleh, more affectionately known as "Rose", is a straight Egyptian Sabino Arabian mare, born 4/1/86. She stands 15.2 hands and is a gorgeous dark chestnut with 2 white socks, a blaze extending over her nose and having 2 dark spots within the white, and a large belly spot. Her sire was the champion Show AND 100 mile Endurance horse, *Faleh, imported from Egypt and owned by Gleannloch Farms. Her dam, *Rababaa, was a gorgeous chestnut mare imported from Egypt and owned by John & JoAnn Milne of WY most of her life. As you can see by her pedigree, Rose comes from extremely athletic lines and we hope that she will continue this athletecism in her foals for us.
The picture to the right is my first Limited Distance Endurance Ride with Rose - the 1993 Clemson 25 Endurance Ride. The top photo was all the horses gathered in the mist at Fant's Grove in Clemson SC, waiting for the start of the ride. The second photo was Rose and I coming in to our first vet check. If it seems that I look upset, I was! Rose has thrown a shoe about 2 miles before the check and I walked her in, fully expecting to have to pull from this ride that was on our own home trails. Luckily, our very own farrier was at the check and replaced the shoe for us! :) Rose went on to finish the ride 8th overall and 2nd Best Condition!
