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The Story Of A
Great Barrel Horse
by
Doreen Higham
Poughquag, N.Y.
USA
I had
a wonderful horse named Blackie for 33
years until I had to put him down due to
colic at 36 years old. Blackie taught
me how to ride, took me to the top of
horse shows, winning in Barrels, Western
Pleasure, and English. He pulled a sled
in the winter and a cart in the summer.
Blackie was ready to retire after he
taught my two children Denis and
Christine how to ride, which he did a
great job of. Blackie is still missed by
his many fans. (Rest In Peace
Old Friend)
BULLDOZER
With Blackie basically
retired, a yearling named Bulldozer came
into my life. Just a skinny little
bay colt in a field no bigger than a
batting cage. There was a little dog
harrassing him, biting his legs and
tail. The people wanted 400.00 for him
and he was still a stallion.
Well I offered them
350.00 because I had to get him
gelded. They agreed and I became his
new owner.
That's when it all
began. I brought him home and at the
time I had just put up fence, but no
trees were cut down or heavy brush
cleared yet. My brother came up to see
my new horse, and the colt was running
through this field full of brush like it
was nothing. Just a tiny, little thing
of a horse around 13.2 hands high.
Mowing his way through the tangle of
brush.
My brother said
you dont need a bulldozer in here to
clear this brush out, you already have
one!!!
And that is how
Bulldozer got his name. I
taught Bulldozer how to shake
hands. Whenever he sees a treat bag he
will pick up his foot and want to shake
with you for a treat. We soon became
very close friends Bulldozer and I.
I worked with him
everyday to get him going. It took a
lot of work to get weight on him. I
thought he would never grow or gain
weight? I tried all kinds of fat
enriched protein foods, vitamins,
whatever was out there I tried. When he
was around 3 years old I started riding
him even though he would always
remain small. Before I had to put
Blackie down, I would pony Bulldozer on
trails with a saddle on his back.
Blackie was the best baby sitter, a
calming partner for Bulldozer.
Bulldozer started coming
along BUT holy cow did
he want to buck and then buck some
more!!! But it was ok, it was actually
such a fun time with him that I did not
mind. Finally I got him doing a nice
walk, trot and canter around the ring
and on trail rides. Bulldozer was
coming along really great, but I had
baby Chrissy so I had really no time to
work Bulldozer as much as he needed with
a baby in my arms all the time. So I
sent him to my brother in law, Jim
Tenhove for a month to get him going
better on the barrel pattern. When the
month was over I picked Bulldozer up and
Jim told me he would never amount to
anything. He said first of all,
this horse is to far to small and will
never make a great barrel horse.
Bulldozer is very, very small compared
to the huge size of most of the best
winning barrel horses out there.
Well Bulldozer proved
him wrong. Bulldozer started
running at shows and doing good. BUT
at the end of his runs he would
always buck. I let him do it because I
figured that was his personal trade
mark!!! Through out the years, it has
remained his trade mark too. After
every run Bulldozer made at a show he
would come out, cross the timer line and
buck at least twice, if not more times,
no matter who was riding him.
Soon Bulldozer started
winning a lot at shows, in all gymkhana
classes. He really loved to run poles
and straight barrels they were his two
best classes. As he got older he got
better and better. He loved his job.
Bulldozer would jump on
the trailer and was always ready to go
to shows. He loves to please me.
Rarely does he knock a barrel or pole.
He is the most consistent horse I have
even known in my life.
In 1996 Bulldozer became
very ill, I had my family Vet out. He
only gave me pain killers for Dozer? I
was out there for 3 days with him in the
barn walking him, talking to him and
watching him get worse, deathly ill. I
called another Vet and within minutes
they did a rectal on him and told me he
needed emergency surgery imediately. He
had a twisted intestine. "They
said they could not believe he was still
alive". They said,
"this horse must have more love in his
heart for you than we have ever seen to
stay alive this long with a twisted
intestine. He has stayed alive for
you"!!!
I had him at their
Equine Vet Clinic imediately and they
started surgery without delay. I stayed
with Bulldozer during the long surgery.
Thankfully all went well and Bulldozer
recovered. After surgery, my best friend
Val and I would rub his belly where the
stitches were because we knew they would
itch. Bulldozer got so used to that he
made us do it all the time by knocking
into us, anyone to get his belly rubbed.
Bulldozer got back to
his old self quickly, I started riding
him within 2 months of his surgery
getting him back in shape. He came back
into the show season that year winning
High Point Champion for
that season. He always ran his heart
out for me.
Bulldozer is now
getting older and still runs a set of
barrels like no other. I
cannot count the number of times he ran
a set of barrels or poles being tired,
perhaps sore and still ran a great set.
I remember once he was tired, I was
tired and he ran into a barrel (or I
pulled him into the barrel because he
rarely ever made a mistake) so it must
have been my fault. He hit the barrel,
it came up, under his legs and he still
kept running like the Champion he is. I
cannot believe he still ran like that as
the cut on his leg was huge. I felt bad
knowing he was injured but still had run
his heart out to cross that finish line.
Bulldozer has
become known by a lot of people over the
years, people would and do come to shows
just to watch him run and buck at the
end of his run.
Throughout Bulldozer's
years, he has quailfied for the NBHA
World show for the past 7 years, won 6
saddles, many, many trophies and prizes
and plenty of Money for his well
deserved treats at the end of each run.
Beside winning all that with me he has
also won many prizes with my daughter
Christine. Christine learned a lot from
Bulldozer. He taught her how to hang on
tight when he bucks hard after the
finish line, and most of all, he taught
her Patience.
Both I and Christine run
him at the NBHA Nationals every
year. But this past year Bulldozer was
coughing, hacking and the Vet thought it
was allergies so I gave him all kinds of
recommended medication to see if that
helped?
Finally another Vet did a
scope on his throat, to find out his
flap in his throat was stuck open. He
needed surgery. I was so nervous. The
surgery was done and it was a success!!!
Bulldozer was going to
be ok at already 19 years old. He was
laid up for months though. We took him
to his first show after he was ready and
to my surprise he ran up there with the
top horses at the show that day!!!
Well here it is November
2008 and Bulldozer will be 20 years old
on next May 7th, and still loves to run
barrels. We did slow down a lot with
running him because sometimes he still
will cough. He does not want to be left
at home though. He wants to be out
running barrels. He lives for running
barrels!!! It is Bulldozers Passion!!!
I have other top barrel
horses in training now. They too are
giving all their heart to run the barrel
pattern. But their is only one
BULLDOZER. Only one Little Horse called
BULLDOZER. Bulldozer has become
a "LEGEND" with many followers who come
to see him run the pattern. Bulldozer
has so very many FANS!!! And he
deserves it!!! My Bulldozer!!!
Doreen Higham
(left) praises her gelding Bulldozer after a
successful Go at the NYNBHA ’2008 Finals.
Daughter, Chrissy Ross (right), is also a
successful NBHA racer. Doreen and Chrissy
both qualified for the ’08 NBHA World Show
in Augusta, GA.
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