My Cousin Vinnie: Page 1

My Cousin Vinnie, AQHA registered name “Bea Bea Bunny” came to Runnymede in 1994 after four grueling years at the racetrack. He had raced 47 times and received his “Register Of Merit” with a Speed Index of 91, which was considered average. He had won a few of his starts, but too few to merit keeping, so the owner decided to send him to auction.

He had retired sound, was a fairly big horse (for a Quarter Horse) at 16.1 hands and a nice mover, so the trainer, a friend of ours, thought I might just like this personable fellow as a jumper prospect. In his experience of working with the chestnut gelding, he’d found that the big fellow always gave his all, but that just wasn’t quite enough for the track.

The trainer stopped by Runnymede on his way to the sale, which could have ended Vinnie’s life, and told me he had a horse on the trailer that he wanted me to look at. “Might make a nice jumper,” I was told. I took a look at this skinny fellow who so desperately needed some TLC and to put the racetrack behind him. He was basically a strongly framed horse, chestnut with a blaze and two white stockings behind and an exceptional mover, but there was also something about the way he carried himself and the look in his large, intelligent eyes. Despite his ratty condition, he held his head proudly high and seemed to say, “I’m not just another horse, I’m a whole lot better horse than what you think!” I studied him carefully: his movements, his attitude and made one of the best decisions of my life. I took a chance on him and from there on, the rest is history.

At that time, Sean was trying to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, so together we started schooling My Cousin Vinnie. We started him over fences and it was obvious he was not going to be a hunter, but he was brave and bold and thought he could jump anything in his path. Being bold, he also loved to gallop. With ears up and eyes focused, he fairly ate up the courses we arranged for him.

Along with the jumping, we’d been working him at dressage and with his way of moving, he seemed to float through his maneuvers. He obviously enjoyed showing himself off and being the center of attention. It didn’t come overnight, but after two years of training, we were ready for his debut in a Combined Training Event in Texas.

Vinnie loved the crowd at the dressage ring and floated through his test and won his very first dressage phase. He was confident and strong in the cross country, so much that he and Sean had to pass another competitor, and being new at the game, Sean passed incorrectly and the pair was eliminated, but I saw enough to know we had a winning team in Sean and Vinnie!

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