The Gift

by Allen Pogue

A true tale, on the most worthy of subjects, a mythical horse of long past, and an Arabian stallion. Texas ´born and bred´ that is becoming a legend in his own time.

"A Gift From An Old Man"

In times past, it has been told, there were those peoples who lived intimately with their horses, in unique circumstances, and that their horses would exhibit extraordinary responsiveness, loyalty, and above all, the supreme equine gift to mankind, ennoblement.

Fables and myths abound from many sources. From the exotic Arab nomads in the East, to the enigmatic and ever wandering troupes of European Gypsies of the North, to the fleeting American Indians of the Plains in the West, at one time or the other, it has been said of them all, that they possessed unusual, almost psychic, communication abilities and were able to perform astonishing accomplishments with their horses.

Tales

The existence of these tales has forged my life and forms the nucleus of my personal philosophy and quest. Nigh on to twenty years, ago a unique opportunity was thrust into my lap. I received as a gift, an old book, written in 1859 by a retired French cavalry general that had fought on horseback pitched battles with the elusive and tenacious bedouin tribes in N. Africa. The heroic leader of these tribes had been defeated and in the chivalrous spirit of the times, exiled to Paris, along with his retinue of slaves and attendants, where they were a constant source of much disquiet, as one can well-imagine; when they were seen roving about the vast parks on horseback dressed in full native regalia and well-mounted on exotic looking ´Eastern´ horses. These men, onetime blood-enemies, forged a friendship out of respect and mutual love of horses.

Daumas, the author, wrote as best he could to describe the ways and the means of raising horses that allowed the closeness of man and mount as told to him by the N. African tribal bards in the many legends that abound. The chapters were ‘edited’ by the expatriate tribal chieftain who could explain things only known to a true son of the desert and lover of the Arabian horse.

The unique opportunity was, that I was charged with the care of a growing herd of Arabian horses by an aging and eccentric owner. And so, in the sometimes ´not so mysterious ways´ of the universe, I was presented with a never-ending supply of ´raw material´ upon which to experiment.

Every year along came another foal crop and the owner of the herd, a contemporary of J. Frank Dobie (a noted author and Univ. of Texas prof.) was living out his final days beguiled with the fantasy of owning a horse equal in quality to the legendary "Pacing White Stallion" that 150 years previous had roamed the banks of Onion Creek during the very early days of the settlement of Austin as a frontier colony. This elusive gray horse according to the extensive documentation supplied by Dobie in his wonderfully informative book, "The Mustangs" became the quintessential legendary ´horse of the plains´ that lives in our mind’s eye, to this very day remaining uncatchable and free.

The legend of this very real horse grew and grew until it eclipsed mere mortality and became the talk of campfires across the entire southwest. The stories proliferated and the horse was 'seen' from the north of Red River in Oklahoma to the vast tracks of the desert southwest.

And so, to return to my story, The ´old man´ …(every good ´horse story´ revolves around ´an old man´ somehow) And so, the old man gave me a copy of "Horses Of The Sahara" from his vast collection of literature, he was after all a U.T. professor of such stuff and as a direct descendant of one of the founding families of the Republic of Texas, a generous man, who respected and loved fine horse flesh.

What I read I found enchanting, what I wanted to experience first-hand I found elusive, but not impossible, if I were only willing to make changes in my life that would allow the events to unfold, and so I did, and so the old man bought a fine-blooded Arabian colt, a gray, of most noble parentage, his name was Hasan, in Arabic it means ´the beauty look´.

Fame and fortune is not the goal, better still I have been able to secure a worthy dream, a horse. A horse like no other. A horse that now is attaining his rightful place in the hearts of others. He will live on in the aspirations and dreams of the children that we have touched and that have touched him.

While at the present time Hasan is, " the kind of a horse most people can only dream about". I am doing everything in my power to make it possible for others to achieve a similar ´essence of being one´ with the horse of their dreams.

It is a simple matter really, all one has to do is to realize, that you don´t have to ´run away and join the circus´ to live your dream.