BO DIAMOND DANDY

BY: HY DIAMOND DANDY by HY DIAMOND (tb) OUT OF: BO’S HOPE by HOBO ADAM by HOBO

(1964-1991) Bo Diamond Dandy was foaled in 1964, when we lived on the Lightning M Ranch west of Houston. She was one mean little motor scooter. As soon as she wobbled into a standing position, I touched her on the rear, and she pinned her ears and did everything a newborn foal could do to kick me. That set the tone for our encounters throughout her weanling and yearling years, and the only thing that stopped her from trying to kick me every time I walked into her stall was me throwing a bucket at her. One time, she got the bucket hung between her hind legs, and that scared her so bad she never tried to kick me again. After she was weaned, I started putting the baby surcingle (a padded donut-shaped training harness)

on her with driving reins and a soft rubber bit. Things would go great until I put any pressure on her mouth. She just couldn’t stand it. She’d flip over in a New York minute. I had our saddle maker at the store make me bit holder that included a bosal (noseband). Well, her nose was almost as soft as her mouth, but I learned to get along with her. When I could wait no longer, at about 18 months, I put my saddle on her. It only weighted 28 pounds, fully rigged. I put a very light bosal on her and stepped on. It was just Bo and me—no one else was around. I had driven her so much, that with a light cluck and a squeeze of the leg, she moved off, nice and calm. That went so well that after a bit, I eased her into a trot and then an extended trot. It was all pretty colt-like, but we were moving forward with no bucking or bad behavior. At one point, while she was in an extended trot, I thought, let’s see if the girl will stop in an acre or less. I picked her up and asked her to whoa, and I almost fainted when she kept her head in perfect position and using her withers as a fulcrum, dropped her butt down and came to beautiful stop with her hind legs under

her. I was so excited! I thought, let’s see what happens when I ask her to turn left or right. Usually a colt will walk around a turn. Not Bo. I gathered her up and put just a wee bit of pressure on her neck and used a little leg pressure. She kept both hind feet planted and did a perfect pivot left. I tried the right. Same thing. Now remember, this was the very first time she had ever had a saddle or rider on her back. And wouldn’t you know it? There was no one to see it.

Willis Bennett, a well-known cutting horse trainer, was working for me at the time, and one day, he was on a Youth Cutting Horse that he was tuning up for some folks. I was on Bo Diamond Dandy just sitting in the middle of the arena. The cattle were so sour that not a lot of herd-holding was necessary. One old sour thing broke from the herd and ran right down my filly’s throat. I could feel her start trembling, and my only thought was to keep her from panicking and bucking me off. She gave it some serious thought, and then, all of a sudden, she pinned her ears and fell down in front of that cow. She made about 3 hard turns with that old cow and then didn’t know what else to do. I’ve got to tell you, I had goose bumps all over. Willis pulled his horse up, looked at me and said, “Today is the last day for you on that filly. She goes in my string from now on.” Bo could already spell COW, and she hadn’t hit her 2 nd birthday.

Unfortunately, shortly after Willis took over her training, I noticed a small sore, about the size of the end of a cigarette on the inside of a hind leg. After a week or so, it hadn’t gotten any better, so when my vet, C.A. Banker, was at the ranch taking care of other horses, I asked him to take a look at it. It was osteomyelitis, an infection that went straight through to the bone and into the marrow. Suddenly, there was a real possibility of losing her. C. A. treated her and we had to get off her and wait until the darn thing healed. I don’t remember how long that took, but quite a while. About that time, I was worn out with all the work that went with Lightning M. There were over 100 head of horses on the place and 68 of them belonged to me. I was keeping 28 in show shape, which meant I had to start riding at 4:00 a.m. I’d ride 4 or 5 horses before 7:00, leave to take my little girl to pre-school, go to work in the store all day, and when I got home at about 6:00 p.m., I’d start riding horses again until about 10:30 or 11:00. Horse owners would show up in the evenings with toddy in hand and want to be entertained. And to top it all off, I was traveling something like 70,000 miles from April thruogh September to participate in over 70 horse shows. During that time, I made a Quarter Horse Champion per year for four years running. I burned out, plain and simple. I started selling or giving horses away. I called all the people who boarded or had their horses in training with us and told them we were no longer taking outside horses and to move theirs right away. When the owners wouldn’t move, we did. Willis Bennett took over management of the Lightning M and we moved to a much smaller place. Willis was devastated that I was going to take Bo Diamond Dandy away from him. In hindsight, it was probably a very dumb move on my part. As Bo was a running-bred filly, I put her in race training in Lafayette, Louisiana. She took her training really well and on her second out, it looked like she was winning the race when she popped a knee and pulled up lame. That evening, I had bet all my available cash on her to win. My trainer’s wife had to loan me $20.00 to get home. I brought Bo home, too, and let her rest and get well. Next, I decided to make a Western Pleasure horse out of her. She moved like a million dollars—as long as you stayed out of her mouth or off her nose. Since I still had a bunch of outside Junior Pleasure horses that belonged to paying customers, Bo got left at home a lot and didn’t make a very big mark in the show ring.

[Editor’s note: Pat kept writing about this horse because Bo spent more years with her than any other horse—27. Bo was part of the family.] Below:Bo Diamond Dandy with her son, Oh Hy Oh 1984ish. Opposite: Bo in 1966 as a coming two-year-old.