TRI CITTY PAGE
11.04.1982 - 1997 sorrel mare, AQHA Reg.No. 1957708
Our Citty came to Germany from the United States at 7 years of age. Shortly after her import, we saw her on a little stud farm and fell in love with her. We don't know much about her past - only that she had two foals in the USA and that she was very well trained. Everything else we can only suspect...
She was a mare of character, an alpha-mare par excellence. No matter where she was, in each new herd she was the boss from the first moment. When her new pasture-mates wanted to tease her, a slight lifting of one hindfoot and a sharp glance were enough to get things straight - they never tried a second time...
Citty loved our purebred Arab stallion Ramak. She watched her beloved friend jealously - once on a trail ride we met a nice warmblood mare who passed us by a bit too closely and threw an interested glance on beautiful Ramak - Citty gave her a strong bite into the neck...
She was a wonderful saddle horse, she could do everything. But one had to make arrangements with her, she wanted to be partner and not slave of her rider. She used to unseat new riders who wanted to prove their superior riding abilities by switching on her turbo-reverse gear and throwing them off backwards over the fence of the riding arena...
Out in the countryside, we have never encoun- tered a horse that was so surestepped as she was. Effortlessly she gallop- ped faster than hell over uneven, narrow paths on which every warmblood would have broken its legs when only trotting. She was fast as lightning, at least - typical for her breed - on the first 800 meters. No one could catch up with her, even our Saluki bitches - and they are really not slow! - had much trouble to keep the pace. Citty's specialty were 90° -turns out of full gallop in order to turn into an interesting-looking side path - a loveable habit that caused her rider to nearly slip out of saddle more than once.
If we had let her, she would have run until she dropped down. We always had to calm her down - otherwise she would never have slowed. Racing was in her blood - she loved it! That's of course not a miracle when looking at her pedigree - she descends from a racing- and performance bloodline.
Citty's sire Pana Dude AQHA Reg.No. 1357313, a bay stallion born 1978, was AQHA-Champion, had a ROM Arena and a Superior in Heeling. He was a grandson of the famous AQHA Foundation Sire Blondy's Dude AQHA Reg.No. 74801, AQHA-Champion, ROM Arena, AQHA-Hall of Fame.
Citty's dam Tri Tri Citty AQHA Reg.No. 789582, a bay mare born 1971, was a daughter of Old Tom Cat, AQHA Reg.No. 85260, a sorrel stallion born 1958. His titles: AAA Speed Index, ROM Racing and AQHA-Champion. Old Tom Cat was by Robin Reed (by Leo) - AAAT Speed Index, ROM Racing - out of Little Meow, AA Speed Index and Stakes Winner.
Citty's maternal granddam, the black mare Jinx Bars AQHA Reg.No. 220310 - a granddaugher of Three Bars -, was AQHA Champion, had a Superior in Halter and a ROM Arena.
From her looks and her character, Citty was a Quarter Horse like a dream, with all traits that this breed should have:
friendly and absolutely cool when handling hersome -timeshow-ever with some own ideas about how the world should function - with a lovely Quarter Horse head and impressive muscling (without any Impressive in her pedigree J). Her only weak point was regretfully her legs - too fine for her weight and not sound either. The circumference of her front cannon bone was only 17,5cm - much too light for a horse of about 500kgs. For comparison - our purebred Arab stallion Ramak had a cannon bone circumference of 18,5cm - and about 120kgs less weight...
In 1993 Citty blessed us with a colt, Dusty, by Ramak - a child of love. She waited for us with the foaling - we were on the watch outside her stall, not wanting to disturb her. Loud noise and bumping against the walls alarmed us - we ran into the stall, received an indignant glance from Citty - "Where have you been!? Why did it take you so long to come here - I want to begin!!" - and she layed down in the straw and gave birth to a sweet little colt within 20 minutes. It was our task to dry the little boy with straw - Citty had no time for that, she was hungry and emptied a bucket with 5kgs of oats. Dusty was a perfect colt, with legs straight as a die, a fine Arab head and Citty's muscles (a little less of course).
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He was a real little Prince - and could stop like a hell at only 12 hours of age J. He inherited all good points from his parents, without their faults. As a yearling he found a loving home with a young girl.
At 12 years, Citty developed arthrosis in her left front knee. Despite all efforts by various vets the disease became worse and worse. After three years she was no more able to enjoy life without pain out on the pasture, although she was not ridden anymore. So we had to let her go to Greener Pastures - at only 15 years of age. It was a crying shame that this dream mare had to go so early, we still miss her awfully. We don't know where her fine bones and her unsoundness came from - her pedigree is full of foundation horses like Leo, Blondy's Dude, King P-234 and does not reveal anything about it. The unsoundness may have been caused by not correct raising or by too early, too heavy training - we don't know. There is however a tendency in the Quarter Horse breed - at least in some bloodlines - to produce horses with more and more muscles and bones that get finer and finer. This is deadly for the horses.
Citty's early demise has struck us hard. In the meantime the pain has given way to the wonderful memories of the time we were allowed to spend with her. We hope she waits for us at the Rainbow Bridge, together with her Ramak whom she had loved so much.