Cal Dorado – the golden dancing horse

From an inauspicious beginning, Cal Dorado for sure made his presence known. Given away as a 4 calendar month quondam to Californian Barbara Parkening, “Flash,” equally he was known past times his friends, became an international star.

The purebred arabian was sired past times the *Bask boy Cal-OBask and born inwards February, 1979. With two club feet together with agency likewise much white to accommodate his breeder, the sire’s possessor agreed to take him back. Barbara happened to larn to the farm to catch Cal-O-Bask together with spotted a weanling inwards a nearby corral. “It was dear at first sight,” says Barbara.

Barbara had gotten her foremost horse, a half Lippizan, when she was 14 and put her inwards preparation amongst the famous Circus/High-School trainer Albert Ostermaier. She trained amongst Albert until she started to show competitive dressage together with has been training amongst Olympic dressage passenger Hilda Gurney ever since. In the mid-eighties she earned her bronze, silverish together with gilt medals from the USDF.

After taking on the petty guy, Barbara hauled Flash long distances to have corrective shoeing to amend his feet. Barbara recounts, “I started him nether saddle and the position him on long lines. It didn’t take him long to figure things out together with he taught himself how to canter on 3 legs, we idea that was a pretty expert trick.”

This article foremost appeared inwards the June/July 2013 consequence of The Arabian Sport Horse magazine, together with is reprinted hither amongst permission.

Barbara taught the gorgeous flashy chestnut how to attain high schoolhouse dressage movements in long lines. He would walk down the centerline on his dorsum legs, passage, piaffe, Castilian walk, pirouette, bow and much more. She used him inwards her “Dancing With Horses” traveling theatrical show.

“He could piaffe together with passage all twenty-four threescore minutes menses and loved doing it,” says Barbara.

When Flash was 17, Barbara went to her friend Hilda amongst a plan. She asked Hilda to brand him a Grand Prix Equus caballus together with win a National Championship on him.

Hilda recalls, “First, I had to instruct him lead changes, which I did. But the tricky part was getting on him – when y'all swung your leg over, he’d drib his head. He didn’t have a huge shoulder, together with then when he’d put his caput downwards together with buck at that spot was no way you were staying on. After I got dumped a yoke of times I ever had someone hold his caput when I mounted.”

In spite of that, Hilda says she really enjoyed him. “He wasn’t mean, he would prance together with trip the low-cal fantastic but he wouldn’t boot or seize amongst teeth or anything similar that. Until the day they position him downwards he’d come upward out of the stall together with he would prance together with dance. Flash was ever a character, real vibrant, probably the most vibrant Equus caballus I’ve ever seen. An absolutely beautiful horse.”

Hilda showed him inwards opened upward shows at Grand Prix, earning scores inwards the 60s. In 1997, they took Flash to Albuquerque to compete at the States Nationals inwards the highest dressage degree they offered at the time, Prix St. Georges. Flash together with Hilda won the shape amongst a grade of 65.93%, following that upward amongst a dressage demonstration before a crowd of 5,000 spectators, earning a standing ovation.

Later, the years of walking on his hind legs caused him only about soreness inwards his hocks, together with then he was retired from competition.

His offspring have got carried on his winning legacy. Fancy Trick was trained together with shown by Hilda to ii National Championships in Grand Prix together with i at I-2. His purebred son Aleros+/ earned a National Championship in tertiary Level, is close set upward to compete at Grand Prix this yr together with is planning on another trip to SHN inwards 2014.

Of Flash’s offspring Hilda says, “Aleros a actually a fabulous mover. And nosotros now have grandkids from Flash that are super movers together with actually talented inwards piaffe and passage.”

His daughter, CD Gold Fever+++/ is a 2 fourth dimension Reserve National Champion in Halter amongst Regional wins inwards Show Hack. Rhythmandbluesscr+// is a multi National Top Ten winner inwards Dressage. MC Stars Nstripes+/ is a Reserve National Champion in Show Hack together with multi-Top Ten winner in Carriage Driving together with Sport Horse Show Hack. CB Endeavor+ is a Canadian National & Reserve National Champion inwards Hunter Pleasure. Apr Moonsong+ is a Reserve National Champion inwards Sidesaddle.

And i concluding foal was due inwards July, conceived from only about frozen semen harvested from a testicle that was herniated together with afterwards removed. The dam is a large Hanoverian mare who has produced i foal past times Aleros already.

On Apr xviii at the historic menses of 34, Flash tore the wall of his rectum piece trying to overstep a difficult fecal ball. There was zero the vets could do, together with then he was set to rest. For an unwanted baby, he has for sure left an incredible legacy.