Beavis

It's been said that, collectively speaking, Thoroughbreds have the least amount of personality of all the horse breeds. Granted, this is coming from a girl who is a Quarter Horse girl, so I have just an ounce of bias. Just listen to me talk about my Trufflez and you'll hear personality overflowing. But I do feel that the mares here seem to be lacking in the personal quirks and antics that I find so enjoyable in horses. So I thank heavens for these little foals.

For instance, take the little foal Nikki and I have named Beavis. He's mischevious, a brat, and he makes a grunting nose when he runs that is taken directly from the MTV cartoon "Beavis and Butthead." From the day he stepped off the van from New York, he's been nothing but trouble. While holding him for the broodmare manager to examine, Beavis nearly took pieces out of my arm and the manager's arm. When we hold his dam for the vet to examine, the trick isn't making sure he doesn't escape, it's watching when he rears so his hooves don't hit you in the head or knock his dam over. Leading him o and from the paddock is a task in itself. If he's not bucking and jumping, he's tearing off, dragging you and his dam along for the ride.

He's not all a terror, though. In the afternoon, the mares will usually come to the gate when we whistle for them. Beavis has figured out the routine, so more than once he has come running across the pasture, grunting and whinnying the entire way. It almost makes his mischievousness bearable to hear him like that. And his personality would be annoying if it wasn't such a welcome change.