Carley rode Warmbloods and Thoroughbreds. She grew up showing hunters and jumpers. Then she found herself a perfect job at the Arabian Nights Dinner Theater in Florida, founded by Mark Miller, the son of Bazy Tankersley of Al Marah Arabians fame. Her job was to help train and ride the horses for the show. A year later, she became a cast member as one of the Princesses. Her new job was to dress up in a long satin gown, including satin pantaloons, and ride an Arabian horse bareback without a bridle as part of the show during dinner. Five nights a week, she rode Storm, a beautiful black Arabian. Carley told me Storm loved to gallop around the arena at full speed while she prayed she could hang on and not slide right off in the middle of the show.
Storm was a stallion, but sweet and easy to work with. Carley developed a special relationship with him over the next three years, working with him during the day and riding him in the show performance in the evenings.
For a while, she also worked with Powerplay, another Arabian who was brought in from the Al Marah ranch in Tucson, Arizona. When he arrived in Florida, he was a scrawny young horse no one in the troupe wanted to work with. He bounced around from rider to rider with none of them especially getting along with him. Carley liked him, developed a good relationship with him, trained him, and he became her baby for a while. As his training improved his performances, other people began choosing him as their mount for the evening. That upset Carley greatly. She thought of him as her horse.
One day, Carley had enough of other people taking “her” horse for the show. She talked to Mr. Miller and made him a reasonable offer to purchase Powerplay. He accepted her offer, and she took him home. Not long after, Powerplay developed a keratoma (a benign tumor) in his hoof that made him repeatedly abscess and show up lame on that foot. With the help of her vet and farrier, they resected the hoof and removed the keratoma. Carley spent a lot of time with Powerplay to help him heal. The horse required wraps, medication, $700 shoes and new x-rays every four weeks, and lots of support. Just about the time things looked good on the healing, he blew out another abscess, and the vet and farrier had to repeat the entire process and remove another keratoma. The healing process from the second procedure went well until it failed again with another abscess.
Carley’s vet told her there was nothing he could suggest. He already exhausted the resources of the University of Florida. The only possibility would be for her to take him to Rood and Riddle Veterinary Hospital in Kentucky and see what they might be able to do. Carley couldn’t conceive how she could haul a three-legged horse that far. The only other option was humane euthanasia. Carley had no choice but to say goodbye to Powerplay. He took a little piece of her heart with him.
Shortly after his mother passed away, Mark Miller closed down the Arabian Nights Dinner Theater so he could take over the breeding program his mother started so many years before. He built a facility in Florida as an offshoot of his mother’s ranch in Tucson, Arizona. The horses from the Dinner Theater sold at an auction at the Florida ranch.
Carley maintained a friendship with Mr. Miller’s stepdaughter. Carley followed Storm through her. Storm sold to a family in South Florida. They also maintained a relationship with Mr. Miller’s daughter, so she kept Carley up to date. At one point, the couple decided to list Storm for sale. Carley was not in a position to buy him at that time. Months had passed, and they chose to keep Storm and didn’t pursue a sale.
Forward to now, Carley and her husband bought 10-acres of land with plans to build a home and horse facility of their own. Carley also had a new baby daughter. Once the time was right, Carley asked Mr. Miller’s stepdaughter about Storm and if the owners still had him and would be interested in selling him, if so. When they heard who was inquiring, they agreed to sell him to Carley.
Carley was devastated to lose Powerplay, but that pain eased when she got Storm back in her life. He has moved in and settled in very well. He has the companionship of another gelding and gets turnout time with his new buddy every day. Carley wants to spoil him and let him be a horse for once in his life. She told me Storm, as a stallion, was stall bound most of his life. While he was working at the dinner theater, he was in a stall unless he was being groomed, worked, or prepared and ridden during his appearances. The new owners also kept him stall-bound most of the time. Now is probably the first time in his life that he can hang out, eat grass in the sunshine, and enjoy the company of another horse. She takes him on trail rides with her three-year-old daughter on the saddle in front of her. She has loved and followed Storm for ten years. She is looking forward to the day he can teach her daughter how to ride.
