BY MEGHAN MACKEY, INTERNET MANAGER
Making the finals in any event at the Bayer Select World Championship Show is a big achievement. Getting called back in two ev |
| You would never know Really Hot Stuff has no sight in her right eye when she and Sydna Bass compete in trail, horsemanship and western riding. Here they are receiving a finalist ribbon for the western horsemanship finals. |
ents on the same horse was a first for Sydna “Sam” Bass, and a particularly special achievement because her horse, Really Hot Stuff, is blind in her right eye.
Sam purchased “Stuffy” as a 3-year-old.
“I called Nancy (Cahill) on the phone and said ‘Nancy, I want you to find me a horse you would like me to have,’ because I had several horses that she wasn’t crazy about.” Sam said. “She said ‘I’m sitting on the best thing I’ve had a knee over in a long time.’ And I said I’d be up there to see her and of course I liked her. She’s been making me look good for a long time.”
Sam and Stuffy had a lot of success together in horsemanship and trail, and Sam decided a few years ago she wanted Nancy to start Stuffy for western riding. She put her in training with the AQHA Professional Horseman for six months to get a solid start in the event, then brought her home and turned her out for a little time off.
“She came up the next day blinking her eye,” Sam said. “I thought I’d just put some drops in it but all of a sudden it just went south.”
Sam’s veterinarian thought Stuffy had been hit in the eye, but when the eye continued to worsen, she took her mare to Texas A&M University for another opinion. The veterinarians there diagnosed Stuffy with moon blindness.
Rather than losing the eye and having to fit Stuffy for a cosmetic one, Sam decided the best choice was to have it sterilized. Stuffy’s right eye is now a foggy, bluish color.
“Her main thing was always trail and I didn’t know if she’d be able to do it again or if I’d be able to ride her,” Sam said. “But she handled it so well I got back to showing her. To be on her, you’d have no idea that she had lost that eyesight.
“I think it’s phenomenal because with trail, you have so much depth perception. You have to know if something’s raised or not. You close one eye and try to walk over those trail obstacles!”
Sam said Stuffy has never been spooky and has maintained her sweet, good-minded personality.
“She’s really talented,” Sam said. “She’s so quiet and so good-minded. She’s right there where you left her.You don’t have to do it over and over. All you have to do is back her out of the trailer and show her.”
It’s Stuffy’s personality that Sam loves so much. She bred the mare this year in hopes of getting a colt with the same disposition, but she didn’t take. Sam said she’ll try again next year and if all goes well, she might then be ready to let her 14-year-old mare move on and make someone else happy.
“I have a lady that’s interested in her for her granddaughter,” Sam said. “She wants something for her granddaughter to be able to learn to ride and then show.”
Sam recently purchased a 4-year-old from her friend Theresa Fletcher. She has several other young horses coming along that might be good replacements for Stuffy, should she decide to sell her.
“I’m thinking about it. I might do it. I told her last year if I could get a colt out of her, we’d talk about it. So that’s where we are again.”
