Starbuck's Iced Cappuccino (Cappie), born July 15, 2003, is a silver dapple (chocolate) gelding by My Diamond Dust, out of Rosie's Diamond Star and boasts of Pride's Generator and Ebony Masterpiece in his lineage. Cappie stands at 14.2. Cappie is naturally gaited. He has lots of heart and can go the distance.
Cappie is currently Nugget and Melody's pasture mate. This year, more in-hand work will be introduced and additional arena work will be developed. Cappie will also be taught using the Balance Rein to support seat and leg cues.
Cappie is currently Nugget and Melody's pasture mate. This year, more in-hand work will be introduced and additional arena work will be developed. Cappie will also be taught using the Balance Rein to support seat and leg cues.
Cappie: The Boomerang Horse
Cappie is back home!
I bought STARBUCKS ICED CAPPUCCINO (aka, Cappie) in 2006. He was a silver-dapple, 3-year-old stallion, a rare color in the Tennessee Walking Horse breed. I was developing a small breeding program and found a local barn that would board and manage this young stallion. I also purchased two brood mares and a filly sired by Cappie, Taramisu. I was building my dream.
Then the national economy tanked in 2008 and 2009 and, at the same time, North Carolina suffered a series of droughts. The horse market died. Hay was difficult to find; fields lay burnt in the blistering sun. My dream quickly became a financial nightmare.
A stallion is typically kept away from other horses except for breeding. Cappie had spent most of his young life isolated in a stall, which provided no experience living in a herd. I had Cappie gelded, brought him home to my barn, and sold two of the mares. As I pondered plans for Cappie’s future and, after time for adjustment to his new home, Cappie was released into my middle pasture with my head mare, Missy. Like a teen bully, he tried her patience. She, however, would tolerate none of that. Missy swiftly taught him to watch her ears and mind her hind legs. Her ears gave him a warning, the hind legs drove hard the lesson.
I used the few training techniques I knew, but Cappie’s behavior told on me. I didn’t bond well with Cappie so, rather than keep him as my riding horse, I planned to sell him as a trail horse. However, training Cappie for trail riding was fraught with frustration and confusion on my part and perceived stubbornness and ill-behavior on his, which is not a good combination.
Finally, I sold Cappie and specifically advised the new owner that Cappie didn’t like someone ‘yanking’ on the reins to stop him. I suggested that she take riding lessons for a few months to learn riding seat and leg cues. However, only one day later, she brought him back. She had saddled him his first day in a new place and took him riding in her pasture past the neighbor’s horses. When he spooked at the horses, she had difficulty controlling him and that frightened her. So, Cappie came home, again.
Unfortunately, a successful trail ride remained elusive and I consistently chose another horse to ride for pleasure.
A few years later, I met another woman who was looking for a small, older horse. She promised to work with him and she had someone with whom she could ride to give Cappie an experienced horse to follow. I was hopeful that Cappie found a good match, but I retained right-of-first refusal. That weekend she arrived with an old, broken-down, rust-covered trailer. Although I had wanted to reduce the size of my herd, my heart sank as I watched her drive away.
Two months later, I received a text from the new owner; her boarding situation was terminated: 'I've been asked to move Cappie! I have nowhere to go! SHE WANTS HIM GONE WITHIN THE WEEK. NEED TO DO THIS ASAP!!!'
That same afternoon, I found Cappie in a small, wooded, hilly lot with rivulets of eroding brown soil and no grass. Although well fed, his too small halter was digging into his face and muzzle. I also learned that he had been used as a lesson horse. I was upset at his situation, but what was most surprising, overjoyed to see him. I couldn’t load him into my trailer quickly enough. He easily adjusted back in to my herd, happily soaking his hay in his water bucket and snarfing up the lush pasture grass. Cappie is home--again.
There is a constant query of 'What do I need to learn?' to 'What is Cappie doing or needing now?' I am grateful for new online options that provide access to national and international instructors and trainers. When I ride Cappie now, I notice that he resists while turning and I feel his heart racing beneath my seat with each request to slow or halt. I am revisiting ground work and in-hand work with Cappie, softly coaxing him to release this tension. I’ve switched bits to one that uses a pushing action. And I am fine-tuning use of the reins and reteaching him to halt using a balance rein as an intermediate cue between the seat and the rein cues.
Best of all, and more importantly, my 14-year-old granddaughter, Mikaela, wants Cappie for her own when she visits. I lead riding my veteran gelding while Cappie and Mikaela follow on the trail providing Cappie the experience he needs.
Cappie is here to stay.
Copyright 2021, Janet K. Baxter
Baxter, J. (2021). Cappie: The Boomerang Horse, Trouble: Causing, Avoiding, Getting in, and Getting Out. Winston-Salem, NC: Personal Essay Publishing Project.
Cappie: The Boomerang Horse on 6-Minutes Podcasts; 2022
My Granddaughter on Cappie: Her first trail ride
My grandson on his first ride on Cappie.2022