Dennis M. Reed "Califa" - My Arabian Horses
My approach to life: Altruistic Hedonism and moderation in all things including moderation!

When I bought my first Arabian mare, she was an older mare and pregnant.

The following are pictures of Babe being delivered to the Steiner ranch by Pat Barret(1984?).

My first Arabian! I had almost forgotten what a beauty Babe was!

I nicknamed her "Babe". She was all white. Babe was manageable but not friendly and could be caught quite easily in a corner of the pen and haltered. She had been used simply as a brood mare and not given much personal handling.

After her delivery to the Steiner's ranch, I would go out, rain or shine, every day (or every night after work using car headlights) with carrots and hand feed her:

1. At first, she would always go to a corner and I would walk up to her and give her a carrot and then I would retreat a few steps while she ate. This would be repeated until I ran out of carrots;
2. After a few days of 1., I would get within a few feet of her and make her take a step to get the carrot after which she would retreat to the corner to eat. Again, this would be repeated until the carrots were used up;
3. Again after a few days of 2., I would stand further away and make her take a several steps to get the carrot and she continued to retreat to the corner to eat. And again, this would be repeated until the carrots were used up;
4. After a week or two of 3., on a sunny weekend day, I repeated 3. until I ran out of carrots and she was back in the corner. I then went to talk with another horse owner in the adjacent corral. I was resting my arms on the top rail and talking when suddenly and silently, a big white head rested upon my right shoulder, I looked around and there she was with her eyes closed;
5. From that time until her untimely death after foaling, Babe was definitely my horse and she would always come to me and I never again had to trap her in a corner to put on the halter!
6. I had later similar experiences with all my subsequent horses, i.e., they always came up to me even after exercising them in the large training arena!

When it was time for Babe to deliver, she was trailered to the Steiner's home with the foaling stalls where she was monitored night and day via a remote TV camera. We all took turns watching until the birthing began.

When her labor began, we went down to the foaling stall. Babe had a very hard delivery but eventually the foal was born. Unfortunately, the foal had a bent nose which we later found out was caused by growing crosswise in the uterus pressing against the ribs which forced the nose to grow bent. I worked with Babe and the foal until the foal was able to nurse. I then went home to get some sleep but my sleep was soon interrupted, Babe had fallen and died! Of course, I rushed over to the Steiner's home. I was heartbroken.

The next morning, the vet came and performed an autopsy which I watched. It was determined that Babe had died of a massive heart attack caused by the extremely difficult birth. We decided that the foal would never be well and I gave permission for the vet to put it down. He asked for the head for medical purposes and I agreed.

The following day a truck came and took Babe and the foal away.

What a horrible way to start into the horse breeding business!

Fortunately, Babe had been insured to cover the the entire purchase price.

With the insurance I paid off the purchase price and bought my next mare Mubazir Roufetta, a two year old gray beauty also pregnant!

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Mubazir Roufetta being delivered to the Steiner ranch by Pat Barret.

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Date unknown; probably before the birth of Hazz.

I used the same techniques to gain trust that I had used with Babe and soon Roufetta too was mine!

Shortly after Hazz was born, A UCSD co-worker, Barbara Hardifer, came to the Steiner's home see my new baby and took most of the following pictures. The photos are dated 1986/05/30:

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I find the this picture amusing, Roufetta seems to be glaring at Barbara who took the picture and completely ignoring me!

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This picture seems to prove that this line of Arabians are precursors to the flying horse Pegasus and supports my assertion that wings were decorative for the flying horses, Hazz seems to be flying above the ground but with no wings!

These pictures were taken at Steiner's ranch are dated 1987/07/2.

Anecdote: Bill Steiner helped me work with Roufetta using long lead lines in the bull pen. She behaved well with no problems starting,  turning, stopping, etc. After about a week of long lead line training, Bill asked me if I wanted to try to ride her. Of course, I said yes. We put on a regular halter with no bit. Bill held the reins and gave me a leg up. I hung over her back on my stomach legs dangling down. I talked to her constantly and rubbed her body and neck. Little by little I swung my leg over and laying on my stomach with a leg on either side continued talking to her and rubbing her sides and neck. I then sat up and Bill led us around the bull pen with absolutely no problems. He then gave me the reins and, from then on, I was able to ride her with no problems, bareback, with a pad, with a western saddle and with a hunt seat saddle. I never had a buck from Roufetta.

Anecdote: Roufetta had a problem crossing a moderately wide puddle. After about half an hour of trying to get her to walk across the water, Bill came to my aid. He simply backed her up into the water...at which time she dipped her nose into the water and started blowing bubbles :>)

Anecdote: I worked with Hazz constantly and, although he was not gelded until after he was a year old, I never had a bite, nip or kick from him.

Although anyone familar with horses knows that they should move out of the way if a horse backs up towards them, in my case, I never needed to get out of the way...they just wanted me to rub/scratch their butts! I was never kicked nor bitten by any of my horses.

Anecdote: When Hazz was about 2 years old, I decided it was time to ride him. I worked with him for a few days and managed to get him to accept a saddle. One day with a trainer in an adjoining pen and giving me suggestions, I saddled Hazz, the trainer said to put my leg in the stirrup and to stand up in the stirrup and then to get down...over and over until Hazz became comfortable with the activity. This just took a few minutes. The trainer then said to stand up in the stirrup and swing my leg over the saddle, I did so and sat down in the saddle. The trainer who had been looking the other way, then said not to sit down! I said "it was too late!" The trainer looked around and just smiled! I was able to ride Hazz around the corral with no problem. But I never did really get ride him in the large arena nor on the trail because the Steiners had to sell the ranch and I sold my horses because I would have no equivalent ranch at which to board them :>(

I still really miss my horses and the joy of handling and working with them. But I do not miss the hours of required work!