Impulsive Horse Purchases: Clyde

My brother Kody’s attempt to ask a favor seriously backfired on him.

The story begins with Kody getting a call from Kenny Platt, a cutting horse trainer from Fort Lupton, who Kody buys a lot of prospect horses from. Kenny told Kody about a three-year-old gelding. Kenny said, “You need to come try before I sell him. He’ll be one you make money on.” Kody, en route to Las Vegas for a competition, turned to the only person whose opinion on horses he trusts (or at least he did). Me.

He told me to call Kenny and set up a time ASAP to try the gelding. Kenny told me to come Wednesday (4/12). Upon arriving at Kenny Platt Cutting Horses, Ella (everyone’s favorite loper*) greeted me as she washed off the gelding’s poop stains. As instructed by my brother, I rode this poor three-year-old around like a monkey. Kody wanted to see how much the horse knew without any assistance from me. I reported back to Kody on my opinion of the horse and price. He informed me that I needed to get a better deal. Upon commencement of negotiations, Kenny brought a new bargaining chip into play…Clyde.

Clyde is what every little girl who loves horses dreams of. He resembles a more fun-sized version of Angus, Merida’s horse from the movie Brave, equipped with a mustache. Yes, Clyde rocks a ‘stache. Though Clyde is not a draft horse like Angus (he is a Gypsy Vanner), he maneuvers with grace that contradicts his size. After two circles around Kenny’s round pen, I could not help but smile. Our family truly has no purpose for Clyde. Nonetheless, I forgot about buying the three-year-old prospect for Kody and loaded up Clyde instead. My next task involved winning over Kody on Clyde.

Stay tuned for the continued updates.

*Loper: an underpaid assistant trainer who does all the work the actual cutting horse trainers don’t want to do (i.e., washing off poop stains)