Flash the Wonder Horse

I spent four very long, hot, humid months working for Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus. Red Unit, to be exact. 133rd Edition. I served as the Veterinary Technician for the touring unit. I came away with some new and very odd friends, experiences I had never wanted, and one large, white four-legged souvenir. Flash.

Flash has been with Ringling for most of his 20 years. He was trained by the late animal trainer Gunther Gebel Williams. His trick is hind-legging, or rearing and walking on his hind legs. You can see him in action here (yes, thats him, plume and all). That is what he did, with a special cameo at the beginning of the liberty horse act. He then performed with 4 other horses in Ring One. He has been doing the same job since I was in Jr. High.

The thing about Flash is that he was not a popular horse in the stable. He is an Arabian, which is a smallish breed. Most of the other stallions in the stable were Lippizaners, and were much larger than him. Flash was a nervous wreck. He was constantly fighting off life-threatening attacks from one of the other horses, and had to assert himself vocally whenever another horse passed his stall. He had ulcers. He was very, very thin. He had the very best of veterinary care, had test after test done, but he was as healthy as, well, a horse.

Last fall, the Blue Unit was in Salt Lake City and I went meet the Vet Tech on that show. We had talked on the phone, but never met. She told me that the Red Unit was retiring all the liberty horses from Rings One and Three, and just keeping the center ring act. They had placed all the horses but Flash. I knew it was meant to be. So we worked out the paperwork and he was "mailed" to me. He was in Massachussetts with the show at the time, so he was transported cross country by horse movers and delivered to my door! He was my baby from the minute he arrived. He was gentle and obedient. He even loved to do his tricks, still. He was still vocal for the first few months, but he settled in nicely to non-showbiz life. He gained a few hundred pounds. He made horse friends. He rolled in the grass and lived in an apple orchard. Flash has recently made the move to a huge pasture by a lake. He has his best friend Fox Mulder, my other little Arabian, always by his side, and a whole herd of horses to tell his circus stories to.