The Life of a Cow Horse

Dave Thacker and Meg Brehm drove to Blackfoot, Idaho, to visit Dave’s good friend, Zane Davis. They wanted to check out a filly for sale through Zane’s training facility for a client of Dave Thacker Training. Dave’s client wanted him to find a young started-under-saddle ready to go forward toward cow horse competition and preferred a filly. 

 Zane was riding the filly that they wanted to see for their client. Then, Zane’s colt starter rode out into the arena on another roan filly. Meg said the second filly “had the biggest kindest eyes, a sweet disposition, and moved so beautifully.”  They continued to watch both horses and riders handle their fillies. Meg said she could not take her eyes off the second horse. The young horse had somewhere between 60 and 90 rides on her. They couldn't stop watching her. Later, Dave said, “I just had a gut feeling about her. She was going to be good.” 

Dave bought the filly they initially saw for his client. Meg needed to know more about the horse that caught her eye. Zane explained that Zayle was a daughter of Sannman and out of a decent mare. Meg said, “I just fell in love with Zayle.”  A deal was made, and they loaded their two roan fillies and headed back home to Fallon.

After several weeks, they were informed of a horse registration paper mix-up. Out of the dust, they discovered Zayle was by Stevie Rey Von out of CD Savannah. Meg felt that fate had been busy with her new cow horse prospect, for this lineage can produce the horses' legends are made of. 

Dave began training Zayle, and the young mare’s training was spot on for the next eight months. They built a little daily until they knew Zayle was headed for big plans. 

Meg had bought Docette from Barbara Hodges, and Dave had shown the horse for several years. Meg was at The Art of the Cowgirl event when she received an offer for Docette that she could not refuse. The deal was struck, and many tears later, Docette went to her new home. 

Zayle’s training continued, and she was ready to enter the show pen and begin her training to accept and compete where things must happen at specific times. This helps make the horse comfortable in the arena so that the horse can handle the added pressure when the big shows come with larger purses.

Dave was delighted each time Zayle willingly accepted a new challenge and happily met the next challenge. Not all young horses can take the pressure of showing and being hauled to new places, sometimes weekly. Considering the pressure of different show pens and arena sizes or just the differences of the cows, Dave was checking each box off as they occurred for Zayle, helping to build her confidence to win. 

At the National Stock Horse Association, co-sanctioned with the National Reined Cow Horse Association, Open Futurity in Las Vegas in August, Dave and Zayle placed second in the Limited Open Futurity. After arriving home the next day, they realized she was injured, apparently having chipped a leg bone in her pen. On September 18, she had surgery. 

The emotional roller coaster of having a great show, coming home, and, within one day, having their next year’s cow horse prospect having an injury was tremendous. The filly has been under veterinary care, including hand walking daily for thirty minutes. Now, the waiting game begins.

The Brehms hope that Zayle's injury will not be life-changing and that she will be able to return to the cow horse show world.