After being over horsed with a green, off-the-track rescue thoroughbred as a beginner rider, I took my time to find my next suitable mount. A horse better matched to my skill level,  passion for dressage, and modest budget.

Over the course of a year I had looked at over 50 horses of various breeds, ages, and levels of training. This was back in the days before online immediacy. The newspaper classified ads were my connection to finding horses for sale. Some of the horses were within my budget but not suited for dressage. Others were in my price range  but beyond my training abilities.

Was I  unlucky to find what I was looking for within and my budget? Or was I too picky?

I nearly gave up.

Then in October 1989 I received a call from a friend who had moved to Iowa. She asked, “Are you still looking for a horse?” I answered, “Well, yes.”

“I know that Iowa is a long drive, but I saw well-started, a five-year-old gelding who I know you will LOVE,” my friend said. “He has fabulous gaits, a good mind, is gentle, kind and enthusiastic, and is in your price range.” His lineage was from the Trakehner stallion Karneval II standing at Hamilton Farm and a national show jumping champion thoroughbred mare named Nanaboat.

A road trip was in order to see this horse named Seil Tanzer (which is German for a carnival tight rope walker). They called him Seili for short.

Upon meeting Seili, I will never forget his bright, kind eyes that met me at the gate. I brought him to the indoor and watched him move. OMG did he have the goods! His trot had hang time, his walk over tracked by several footsteps, and his canter was beautifully correct and balanced.

Then I rode him. Yes, he was unsteady and green, yet kind, sane, and generous. His purchase price afforded me professional training while I learned how to ride him.

This was a no brainer. Seili became my next horse.

Twenty-nine years later, Seili has been THAT horse. He hasn’t been ridden the last four years upon turning 30, but he has been my pal, meeting me at the gate, carefully watching over the herd as top of the pecking order.

In those twenty-nine years, Seili and I learned how to become a dressage partnership. We rode 5-6 days a week and took regular dressage lessons to develop rhythm, relaxation, connection, impulsion, straightness, and collection as I developed rider position and correct use of aids. We even rode with international clinician and author Dominique Barbier, were a demonstration team for Axel Steiner as he led a dressage judge certification course.

Seili and I competed successfully at schooling and recognized dressage shows through 1996: Training to Second level.

From that point on, Seili became a school horse for people, young and old, to learn how to ride.

For me, I enjoyed taking the “Mercedes” out every now and then to reminisce our show ring days.

In addition to being one of my very best and life-long friends, Seili was a kind and gentle lead of our herd. He loved the mares and took the young geldings under his wing. All of the horses respected his kind authority.

Even to his dying day, Seili met me at the gate with his kind and generous soul. He will be missed by me and by his pasture mates.

There are no words for our aching hearts. We love you Seili.

See you on the other side of the rainbow.