Arabian Horse Stories

Born to be a Kid's Horse

Superboy carries the tune while Nina twirls her baton.

Some children are born to be centaurs. Some are lucky enough to find their perfect equine half. Debbie Shaffer's daughter, Nina, was one of those children. When Nina was just a toddler, sticking her hands through the fence to pet an Amish work horse, she saw herself reflected back in those beautiful, liquid brown eyes. When her Aunt Doris lifted her up on top of a Morgan mare at the Devon Horse Show and did an around-the-world spin, Nina radiated. She had found home. Nina began taking lessons soon after she learned to walk. But there was still a missing piece. When Nina was 3, she met her missing half. Rosstar Superboy (Roed Superman x Ter Star Jubilee), a 4-year-old Arabian gelding that washed out of halter classes and had the disposition of an overgrown puppy dog. Nina walked into his stall, and Superboy put his head down for a hug and kisses. They've been inseparable every since.

Growing Up Together

Trust is an inadequate word to describe their relationship. Superboy lets her dress him in everything from a band major costume to a lighted Christmas tree--they've won the annual Pennsylvania Arabian Game's class three years running. Nina, who's been Superboy's only trainer for the past seven years, has yet to find a discipline he can't learn. To her mother's dismay, Nina throws her hands over her head and trots around the arena just using her legs to guide him. Her next big passion she confesses is to try sidesaddle jumping because, "It's a lot of fun."

"Her first words were 'up' and 'ears,' " says Dawn McCuen of KA Equestrian Center in Cochranville, Pennsylvania, who started giving Nina lessons at 16 month old on her Arabian mare Granny. "Nina was quite extraordinary. She was so focused. If you placed her hands and legs, she tried to keep them there. If you asked her to focus her eyes by looking through the horse's ears, she did. By the time she was 3, she was completely off the longe line."

Then McCuen started instructing Nina on Superboy. Although Superboy's breeder, Dana Gardner, trained the gelding to saddle, he's never had any additional professional training under saddle. It could easily have been a recipe for disaster--a 4-year-old girl from a non-horsey family working with a newly broke 3-year-old.

Pam Earll certainly thought so. "I was so surprised they'd bought her such a young horse," says Earll, whose family owns Silver Buck Farm, where Nina boards Superboy. "My first gelding was 4 years old and he was a hellion, but I was 12. So when I would see this tiny little girl go in to put bell boots on Supie and stand right in front of his feet, I'd think, 'If he kicks out, she'll get hurt.' "

Of course, Superboy never kicked. In fact he went out of his way to avoid hurting Nina. When she would get off balance, he shifted his weight so she wouldn't fall off. When she tumbled off, he would stop straight in his tracks and nudge her.

A natural kid's horse, Superboy's idea of a good time is whatever Nina wants to do. Wearing Nina's favorite colors--a hot pink blanket, hot pink splint boots and a purple halter (Nina also has a hot pink pitchfork and tack box)-- is just part of the game. Going into new disciplines, new classes--no problem.

"Last summer Nina decided to try western pleasure," says Earll. "He had no clue how to do western pleasure. He'd never had a western curb bit or western saddle on before, and there is Nina riding Supie in his show tack, teaching him to slow jog. I thought, if she snatches him with the curb bit, he will flip. But he was good as gold."

Then it was show time. "I groomed for Nina at her first walk/trot western pleasure class at an A show," says Earll. "It was a big, scary outdoor ring, and Supie just tucked his little head and did a slow western jog. They were second in a class of 12."

Nina's wish has always been Superboy's command. When the preschooler turned 4, she decided that Superboy would be her costume horse. Not her native costume horse, but her fun costume horse who would compete at the annual Pennsylvania Arabian Games.

"Nina's grandmother, who sews all their outfits, and Nina take measurements out in his stall and later try on costumes," says Earll. "Basically it's horse torture, but he loves it."

The first year Superboy was a beach boy. "He was wearing sun glasses, a sun visor, towel and beach bag," says Nina who, of course rode in her swim suit. "He had a sign that said, 'Life's a Beach.' "

One of Shaffer's favorites was when Nina went as Mary Poppins riding a carousel horse. "We had covered him with body glitter and the glitter stuck," says Shaffer. "Then we had to take him in the halter class, where glitter is not allowed. We had 10 people bathing him unsuccessfully trying to get it all off. Of course, he was disqualified in the halter class. It's become a standing joke between me and the judge. Whenever I see him, I pull out a tube of glitter and try to hand it off to him."

Superboy's favorite ornament, Nina, has a halo that glows.

Then there was the year Superboy went as a Christmas tree with Nina, the angel, perched on top, with a halo that lit up. Superboy's costume was strung with lights and bells, and he carried a tape pack that played, "Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree." "This huge green skirt hung off him like a drape almost to the ground with a hoop in the bottom like an old-fashioned hoop skirt," says Earll. "When he trotted, it banged him in the ankles, knees and hocks. Once when they were jogging in the class, he stepped on the hoop in front, and it tugged and caught. He stopped and backed out of it and walked on. Most horses would never have taken a step in that outfit without freaking, and yet he had the presence of mind to stop when his hoof got caught and untangle himself and go on."