Windt im Wald Farm
Geauga County, Northeast Ohio
since 1995
FF Gai Arista
Arista's 2003 baby WIW Royal Idyll
An exhausted Diane (left) and Arista (right)
with the new arrival, leggy WIW Royal Idyll
FF Gai Arista (AHR #348182) Chestnut mare,
15.0 hands August 3, 1985--May 28, 2003
Gainey-bred chestnut halter mare; proven broodmare and
easy breeder; level topline, country pleasure prospect; green-broke to ride;
affectionate and gentle; crosses to *Bask, Gai Parada++++, Ferzon. Certified 55%
Crabbet/Blunt and Crabbet-Maynesboro-Kellogg
breeding. 15h.
Arista's passing, without suffering or pain, was so
much the way that she lived her life at our farm. When we bought her
in November 1998, we found her spooky and terrorized by any dog that came
upon her path. She was nearly fastened at the hip to Cameo Windchime, and
when she was tired or upset, her lower lip would tremble and flap.
She was a hard keeper in those days, a bit nervous with a tendency to colic.
By 1999, when we got Arista in foal to our Royal Pride Rythm, we noticed
that she was starting to be in good weight and that she was a pretty good
trail horse who did not mind being in front; she feared nothing, not water,
not covering ground, and she always had a little more energy to give at
the end of the day.
On April 15, 2000, she gave us WIW Princess Iris, a beautiful, statuesque
purebred filly in whom we continue to take great delight, even though she
now belongs to Dan and Debbie Kessler in Madison, Ohio. It was after
Iris's sale that we realized how much Arista meant to us, and we rebred
her for a 2003 foal in June 2002.
During this pregnancy, Arista's fourth, she blossomed. Her coat darkened
and dappled, and the once fearful, dependent Arista now became a confident
matron who knew how to extend her influence to the young upstarts on the
farm. We noted that at last the other horses on the farm took her
seriously, and she showed the confidence to abandon her former pacing close
by the gate to wander deep into the lushest grass.
She certainly seemed in her element. Her favorite act was to open the gate
of her own stall to let herself in and then shut it after she was inside.
Often she would open that gate and just stand with her head in the aisle.
It was her way of saying, "Look at me. Look how independent and smart and
happy I am. I don't have to run when this gate is open, but I want you to
know that I can open it if I want to." Then she would stand there and look
around at everybody and everything with a queen's regal air.
During the Memorial Day weekend, late in the evening of May 24, 2003, we
knew it was time for Arista to deliver. On the monitor, we saw her go down
and exhibit the familiar signs. We pulled on our light jackets, brought
our towels, and our familiar foaling equipment.
At 1 AM on Sunday, May 25, we noticed Arista struggling with this birth.
She heaved mightily, but every time she stopped pushing, the foal's front
legs slipped back into her. A holiday is always a difficult time to
find a vet during a crisis, so Tom reached for the baby's front legs and
gently pulled when Arista pushed, and thank goodness, he was delivered okay.
At birth, he was 40 inches at the withers, the tallest, biggest-boned purebred
Arabian foal that we have ever seen.
We stayed with Arista and baby for 3 hours, until we were finally sure that
this long-legged youngster could find his own nourishment and that Arista
was going to be okay.
At baby's eleventh hour, we turned both him and Arista out in the sunshine
and took our first photos of them. We were relieved that our second foal
was safely-delivered all seemed well. We watched Arista enjoy her fourth
foal and teach him to run and to keep up with her.
On Wednesday, May 28, just moments after Arista and her foal were inside
for the night and Arista had just started to eat her grain, we watched her
head jerk up, a strange light enter her eye, and almost instantaneously,
she staggered to the right and appeared to get herself caught in the water
bucket, something she never ever had done. As she finally righted herself,
she fell again, this time halfway in her stall and halfway into the aisle.
The epinephrine was too late. Every remedy was too late as her sparkling
eye glassed over, and the new baby cried in terror. We tried milking her
for a last feeding for the baby, but that was too late as well. She passed
from this world in less than three minutes
There was nothing more to be done than to give her an honorable burial and
to keep this last foal, this strapping colt, alive. It was a numbing task
that first twenty-four hours, but our Arista has a lasting place of honor,
where the balmy breezes blow downward.
It has been six weeks since Arista's sparkling presence faded from us. Writing
about her lasting importance to us is overdue. Arista carried valuable
Crabbet lines to Gai Parada, *Royal Constellation, Abu Farwa, Rissla, and
multiple crosses to our favorite, Mesaoud. She had the long legs and the
white blaze and markings that we have come to associate with Crabbet breeding,
and we looked forward to having a few more foals from her by Royal
Pride Rythm. She was the one we thought about when we thought about
Crabbet preservation breeding. Arista very much exemplified the Enya piece,
"Loch Lorean." In spite of her substantial bone depth and down to earth
mannerisms, there was a part of her that barely ever touched the ground
beneath her feet and made her truly ethereal.
She leaves us one opportunity to preserve her influence: his name is WIW
Royal Idyll. We thought about this charming name the night of his birth,
but since his dam's death, his name is all the more appropriate, the heir
apparent to Arabian horses with names like HRH Arthur, *Royal Diamond, *Royal
Constellation. Idyll has already survived some tough moments
in his young life, and he surely reminds us of the strapping young heir-apparent,
Arthur, who, according to legend, was the only individual who could extricate
the sword from the stone.. Idyll is all that now remains of our Arista,
and we are truly endeared of his fortitude, total trust, and his ability
to dig his heels in at every opportunity to prove that he is indeed an idyll--
and hopefully not the last of his line to pass on the Crabbet qualities
that we have so come to treasure.
FF Gai Arista: a lively ride, a good mother,
a gentle spirit...
Rest in Peace
